Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC Acquires New Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 1,155 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coastwise Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Procter & Gamble by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coastwise Capital Group LLC now owns 5,250 shares of the company’s stock valued at $909,000 after acquiring an additional 638 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.1% during the third quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 62,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,774,000 after buying an additional 1,287 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1,730.7% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 162,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,109,000 after buying an additional 153,391 shares during the period. Atom Investors LP increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 56.8% during the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 23,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,004,000 after buying an additional 8,375 shares during the period. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the third quarter valued at about $659,000. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

NYSE:PG opened at $179.71 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $423.22 billion, a PE ratio of 30.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.44. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $142.50 and a fifty-two week high of $180.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.75. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $170.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $169.11.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PG. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, October 21st. DA Davidson upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $160.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Procter & Gamble from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.45.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,566 shares in the company, valued at $1,954,538.34. This represents a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total value of $8,604,804.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,189,463.68. This represents a 54.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 83,080 shares of company stock valued at $14,629,038. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

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.