Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Cascade Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 420.4% in the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 4,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $704,000 after buying an additional 3,901 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd purchased a new position in Procter & Gamble in the third quarter valued at approximately $513,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 2.1% in the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 4,292,406 shares of the company’s stock valued at $626,090,000 after buying an additional 90,154 shares during the period. Stack Financial Management Inc raised its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 0.3% in the third quarter. Stack Financial Management Inc now owns 98,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,395,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the period. Finally, Certuity LLC raised its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 28.0% in the third quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 8,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after buying an additional 1,877 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

Procter & Gamble stock traded down $2.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $165.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,714,195 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,676,048. The firm has a market cap of $390.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.04, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $161.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $155.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The Procter & Gamble Company has a twelve month low of $141.45 and a twelve month high of $168.54.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $20.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.43 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.91% and a net margin of 18.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th were paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This is a boost from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total value of $122,693.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,859 shares in the company, valued at $768,256.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Sundar G. Raman sold 31,924 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.95, for a total value of $5,329,711.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,179,061.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total value of $122,693.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,256.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 181,185 shares of company stock worth $29,705,503 over the last ninety days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PG. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $168.00 price objective for the company. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.76.

About Procter & Gamble

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.