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

Verity & Verity LLC trimmed its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 17.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 70,763 shares of the company’s stock after selling 15,466 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $12,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 19,030.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,693,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,730,000 after buying an additional 3,674,286 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 16,292.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 3,675,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,230,000 after purchasing an additional 3,653,477 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 416.1% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,818,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,466,115 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the first quarter worth $233,788,000. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the first quarter valued at $228,212,000. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $189.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. DZ Bank raised Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $159.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.00.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

NYSE PG opened at $170.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1-year low of $142.50 and a 1-year high of $177.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $402.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.42. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $170.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.45.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The firm had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $16,320,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,332,570. This represents a 87.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total transaction of $2,163,072.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,566 shares in the company, valued at $1,954,538.34. This trade represents a 52.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 270,727 shares of company stock worth $46,014,037 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Procter & Gamble

The Procter & Gamble Company engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. The company 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, SK-II, and Native brands.