UPDATE: Morgan Stanley Downgrades Colgate-Palmolive to Equal-Weight on Valuation

Morgan Stanley downgraded Colgate-Palmolive

from Overweight to Equal-weight and removed a $121.00 price target. Morgan Stanley analyst Dara Mohsenian wrote, "We are downgrading CL to EW as we believe after recent multiple expansion (from 18x NTM PE in Dec to its current 20x NTM PE), CL's premium valuation increasingly reflects LT advantages vs. peers. […] Colgate now trades at a 12% NTM P/E premium vs. large-cap peers, which is one standard deviation above its 10-year historical relative P/E average, after experiencing the highest YTD multiple expansion. We view this premium valuation as fair, and also believe topline risk vs. company guidance, while well understood, will likely limit further stock upside." Colgate-Palmolive closed at $114.90 on Wednesday.