Financial Counselors Inc. Acquires 12,717 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Financial Counselors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 364,945 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,717 shares during the quarter. Procter & Gamble makes up approximately 0.9% of Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $63,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $200,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 3.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 14,049,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,433,400,000 after buying an additional 426,409 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 21.9% in the third quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 1,402,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,841,000 after buying an additional 252,040 shares during the period. Fiduciary Trust Co increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.4% during the third quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 367,831 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,708,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the third quarter worth $27,765,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $2,210,944.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,002,804.35. This trade represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 7,007 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total transaction of $1,202,751.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 269,172 shares in the company, valued at $46,203,373.80. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 35,233 shares of company stock worth $6,024,234. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PG. DA Davidson raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Monday. 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. DZ Bank raised Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Procter & Gamble from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PG opened at $179.34 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $170.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $168.90. The company has a market cap of $422.35 billion, a PE ratio of 30.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.42. The Procter & Gamble Company has a twelve month low of $142.50 and a twelve month high of $180.43.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted 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 return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.96 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

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

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.