Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) Lowered to “Underweight” at Wells Fargo & Company

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) was downgraded by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating in a report issued on Monday, Briefing.com reports. They presently have a $100.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential downside of 5.42% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Colgate-Palmolive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $107.00 to $109.00 in a research report on Monday, September 9th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Colgate-Palmolive from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Colgate-Palmolive from $100.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $103.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.79.

Colgate-Palmolive Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE CL opened at $105.73 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $102.11 and its 200 day moving average is $95.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.46, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 16.90, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.06. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52 week low of $67.62 and a 52 week high of $109.30.

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $5.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5 billion. Colgate-Palmolive had a net margin of 14.21% and a return on equity of 470.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Colgate-Palmolive

In other news, Director Martina Hundmejean sold 2,313 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total transaction of $240,228.18. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,755 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,220,874.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Martina Hundmejean sold 2,313 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.86, for a total value of $240,228.18. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,755 shares in the company, valued at $1,220,874.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Sally Massey sold 15,850 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.28, for a total transaction of $1,636,988.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,942 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,439,929.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,490 shares of company stock worth $4,486,063 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Colgate-Palmolive

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 27.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,067,130 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,698,096,000 after acquiring an additional 8,933,912 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Colgate-Palmolive in the first quarter valued at approximately $286,370,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 108.4% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,682,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,367,000 after purchasing an additional 2,955,442 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 40.7% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 8,969,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $870,400,000 after acquiring an additional 2,593,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Magellan Asset Management Ltd lifted its holdings in Colgate-Palmolive by 4,162.6% during the 4th quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd now owns 2,016,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $160,718,000 after buying an additional 1,968,988 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.41% of the company’s stock.

Colgate-Palmolive Company Profile

Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells consumer products in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Oral, Personal and Home Care; and Pet Nutrition. The Oral, Personal and Home Care segment offers toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, bar and liquid hand soaps, shower gels, shampoos, conditioners, deodorants and antiperspirants, skin health products, dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, and other related items.