Financial Council LLC Has $2.45 Million Stock Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Financial Council LLC reduced its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 1.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,075 shares of the company’s stock after selling 285 shares during the period. Procter & Gamble makes up about 1.4% of Financial Council LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Financial Council LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $2,446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Procter & Gamble in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,956,117,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 6,134,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $898,943,000 after buying an additional 3,159,796 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 13,850.3% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,747,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,601,000 after buying an additional 2,727,685 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 235.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,231,032 shares of the company’s stock valued at $473,475,000 after buying an additional 2,268,805 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,492,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,390,963,000 after buying an additional 1,387,539 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on PG. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Argus boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.74.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

NYSE:PG traded down $1.28 during trading on Thursday, reaching $165.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,831,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,522,896. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12 month low of $141.45 and a 12 month high of $169.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $166.07 and a 200-day moving average of $159.94. The firm has a market cap of $390.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 19th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.85%.

Insider Activity

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.50, for a total value of $135,517.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 4,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $634,634. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 855 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.50, for a total transaction of $135,517.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,004 shares in the company, valued at approximately $634,634. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar G. Raman sold 31,924 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.95, for a total value of $5,329,711.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 19,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,179,061.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 154,544 shares of company stock valued at $25,413,051 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

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.