Colgate (CL) CEO Noel Wallace Exercises Options, Sells Shares

What Happened
Noel R. Wallace, Chairman, President & CEO of Colgate‑Palmolive, exercised stock options and immediately sold the resulting shares in what appears to be sell‑to‑cover transactions. On 2026-08-04 he exercised 161,021 options at an exercise price of $72.29 (cost $11,640,208) and sold 161,021 shares at a weighted average price of $91.92 (proceeds $14,800,712). On 2026-08-05 he repeated the same: exercised 161,021 options at $72.29 (cost $11,640,208) and sold 161,021 shares at a weighted average $92.52 (proceeds $14,897,904). Combined, 322,042 shares were exercised and sold for total proceeds of roughly $29.70 million.

Key Details

• Transaction dates: 2026-08-04 and 2026-08-05. Exercise price: $72.29 per share. Sale weighted averages: $91.92 (Aug 4; trades ranged $91.50–$92.30) and $92.52 (Aug 5; trades ranged $92.00–$92.93).
• Shares exercised: 161,021 on each date (total 322,042). Shares sold: same counts on each date (total 322,042).
• Reported cash paid to exercise options: $11,640,208 each day; reported sale proceeds: $14,800,712 (Aug 4) and $14,897,904 (Aug 5). Total proceeds ≈ $29.70M.
• Shares owned after the transactions are not provided in the excerpt.
• Relevant footnotes: F1 = exercise of stock options under the company plan; F2 = portion of sale proceeds delivered to issuer to pay exercise price and tax withholding (sell‑to‑cover); F3/F4 = weighted‑average sale prices across multiple trades; F5 = option vested schedule (one‑third increments starting Sept 12, 2020).
• Filing: Form 4 was filed on 2026-08-06 for transactions on 2026-08-04 and 2026-08-05 — filed within the normal reporting window (timely).

Context
These transactions reflect an option exercise followed by immediate sales (a common sell‑to‑cover/tax withholding procedure), rather than an open‑market purchase indicating a bullish vote by the insider. The entries showing a $0.00 price for derivative disposals reflect surrender/exercise of the options themselves upon conversion to shares. The filing does not include evidence of a 10b5‑1 plan or gifts; it documents routine option exercise and related share sales.