Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 776 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,124 shares of the company’s stock after selling 776 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the second quarter valued at $29,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new position in Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $189.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.00.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 1.5 %

PG stock opened at $169.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $399.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.42. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $170.32 and a 200-day moving average of $168.33. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $142.50 and a fifty-two week high of $177.94.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $108,826.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,319,882.65. This represents a 3.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 313,597 shares of company stock valued at $53,268,499 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Procter & Gamble

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.