Colgate-Palmolive management check
CL · Consumer Staples · Household Products · CEO Noel Wallace
Filings as of
4 good · 2 to watch · 0 flagged, across the seven questions below.
- Watch
Have owners done well?
Trailed its chosen peers$100 invested at the start of fiscal 2021 grew to $104, against $112 for the peer group the company picked itself.
- Good
Does pay follow performance?
Pay rose and fell with returnsOver 5 years, the CEO's pay actually paid (equity valued at the share price) had a correlation of 0.88 with shareholder return. 1 means pay moved in step; below 0, the opposite way.
- n/a
What does the CEO cost owners?
Not enough dataNo pay or net income figure for the latest year.
- Watch
Do they own the stock?
Insiders are selling5 insiders sold $32.0m in the last six months and none bought.
- Good
Are owners being diluted?
Share count shrinkingDiluted shares changed -1.1% a year over the last three fiscal years. Stock-based pay was 0.8% of revenue in the latest year.
- Good
Is leadership stable?
4 leadership filings in 3 yearsCEO in the pay table: Noel Wallace. 4 filings under 8-K item 5.02 (officers or directors leaving or joining, or new pay arrangements) in the last 3 years.
- Good
Are the books clean?
No red flags on fileNo restatements, auditor changes or late filings since 2021.
Against the S&P 500
Each check's score (0–100) and how it compares: the share of ranked S&P 500 companies it matches or beats, and the median in Consumer Staples.
| Check | Score | At or above | Sector median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner returns | 41 | 31 | |
| Pay for performance | 94 | 84 | |
| CEO cost | — | — | 40 |
| Skin in the game | — | — | 65 |
| Dilution | 64 | 60 | |
| Stable leadership | 100 | 70 | |
| Clean books | 100 | 100 |
Closest peers
Others in Household Products, by management score. Colgate-Palmolive is 4th of 33 in its sector.
- 57CLColgate-Palmolive80
- 58KOCoca-Cola Company (The)80
- 70PEPPepsiCo78
- 239CHDChurch & Dwight65
- 302KMBKimberly-Clark61
- 308CLXClorox61
Pay versus performance
From the proxy statement filed March 25, 2026. "Actually paid" values stock awards at the share price, so it rises and falls with the stock.
| Fiscal year | CEO | CEO pay | Actually paid | Other executives (avg) | $100 became | Peers | Net income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Noel Wallace | $16.5m | $12.3m | $6.4m | $104 | $112 | — |
| 2024 | Noel Wallace | $18.2m | $31.7m | $4.9m | $117 | $113 | — |
| 2023 | Noel Wallace | $17.1m | $19.5m | $4.7m | $100 | $108 | — |
| 2022 | Noel Wallace | $14.5m | $11.0m | $4.1m | $97 | $113 | — |
| 2021 | Noel Wallace | $15.5m | $18.0m | $4.1m | $102 | $114 | — |
The board says pay is tied most to Organic sales growth. Its other key measures: Adjusted Earnings Per Share, Free Cash Flow Productivity, Organic Sales Growth, Relative Adjusted Net Income Growth, Relative Organic Sales Growth, Relative Total Shareholder Return.
Insiders and the CEO's stake
Noel R. Wallace (Chairman, President & CEO) held 379,700 shares directly after their latest Form 4 on Sep 16, 2026.
5 insiders sold $32.0m in the last six months and none bought.
- SoldNoel R. WallaceChairman, President & CEO$29.7mAug 5, 2026
- SoldPanagiotis TsourapasCOO, CD, EMEA, APac, Skin$920kAug 24, 2026
- SoldSally MasseyChief People Officer$752kMay 7, 2026
- SoldJohn T CahillDirector$389kAug 6, 2026
Leadership and governance on file
- Apr 9, 2026Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Mar 12, 2026Leadership change8-K 5.02
- May 29, 2025Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Feb 15, 2024Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Sep 15, 2023Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Aug 18, 2023Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Jan 30, 2023Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Jun 13, 2022Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Apr 11, 2022Leadership change8-K 5.02
Latest shareholder vote results: May 13, 2026, including the say-on-pay vote.
Where the money went
Over 2021–2025: $6.7bn returned to owners in buybacks and dividends, 59% of net income, and $672.0m of pay in stock.
| Fiscal year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $17.4bn | $18.0bn | $19.5bn | $20.1bn | $20.4bn |
| Net income | $2.2bn | $1.8bn | $2.3bn | $2.9bn | $2.1bn |
| Stock-based pay | $135.0m | $125.0m | $122.0m | $135.0m | $155.0m |
| Buybacks | $1.3bn | $1.3bn | $1.1bn | $1.7bn | $1.2bn |
| Dividends | — | — | — | — | — |
| Diluted shares | 848m | 839m | 829m | 823m | 811m |
Educational only, not investment advice. Figures are as filed with the SEC: pay from the proxy's pay-versus-performance table, capital allocation from 10-K XBRL data, insider trades from Form 4s over the last six months, events from the last 5 years of filings. The peer group is the one the company chose. See the method.