Renaissance Technologies LLC Cuts Stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Renaissance Technologies LLC reduced its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 45.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 673,729 shares of the company’s stock after selling 552,861 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $111,111,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PG. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in Procter & Gamble in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 64.7% during the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter valued at $34,000. Vima LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter valued at $36,000. 65.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 37,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.89, for a total transaction of $6,289,463.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 263,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,508,763.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 37,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.89, for a total transaction of $6,289,463.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 263,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,508,763.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total transaction of $76,149.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,043.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 375,553 shares of company stock worth $63,829,141 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PG. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.79.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock opened at $177.25 on Tuesday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $141.45 and a fifty-two week high of $177.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $165.37. The company has a market cap of $418.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.41.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.71% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The firm had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, July 19th were given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 19th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.85%.

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.