The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Shares Sold by Latitude Advisors LLC

Latitude Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,955 shares of the company’s stock after selling 118 shares during the period. Latitude Advisors LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $580,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PG. Dfpg Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC now owns 24,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,680,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC increased its position in Procter & Gamble by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 94,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,772,000 after purchasing an additional 12,016 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,003,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,298,184,000 after buying an additional 131,339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 105.5% in the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 59,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,699,000 after buying an additional 30,473 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PG shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $168.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $165.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.53.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of PG traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $155.95. The company had a trading volume of 6,103,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,114,070. The stock has a market cap of $366.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.77. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $141.45 and a fifty-two week high of $163.14.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $21.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.48 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 34.04% and a net margin of 17.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a $1.0065 dividend. This is an increase from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 74,443 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.30, for a total transaction of $11,412,111.90. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,160.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 74,443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.30, for a total value of $11,412,111.90. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,160.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total transaction of $122,693.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,256.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 279,063 shares of company stock worth $43,187,745 over the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

The Procter & Gamble Company provides branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. It operates through five segments: Beauty; Grooming; Health Care; Fabric & Home Care; and Baby, Feminine & Family Care. The Beauty segment offers conditioners, shampoos, styling aids, and treatments under the Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Pantene, and Rejoice brands; and antiperspirants and deodorants, personal cleansing, and skin care products under the Olay, Old Spice, Safeguard, Secret, and SK-II brands.