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

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,141 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,110 shares during the period. Procter & Gamble makes up approximately 0.8% of Empirical Finance LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $13,603,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of PG. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 972.0% in the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Costello Asset Management INC boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 2,142.9% in the 3rd quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays increased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.53.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock opened at $167.99 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $167.30 and a 200 day moving average of $169.40. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12 month low of $153.52 and a 12 month high of $180.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $393.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $21.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.66 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.00% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is presently 64.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total transaction of $8,604,804.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,189,463.68. This trade represents a 54.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $2,210,944.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,595 shares in the company, valued at $2,002,804.35. This trade represents a 52.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 151,097 shares of company stock worth $25,635,076. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble Co engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods. It operates through the following segments: Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric and Home Care, and Baby, Feminine and Family Care. The Beauty segment offers hair, skin, and personal care. The Grooming segment consists of shave care like female and male blades and razors, pre and post shave products, and appliances.