Confluence Investment Management LLC Buys Shares of 142,912 The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 142,912 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,187,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advantage Trust Co acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wyrmwood Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Naples Money Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In other news, CEO Sundar G. Raman sold 31,924 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.95, for a total transaction of $5,329,711.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,179,061.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Sundar G. Raman sold 31,924 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,179,061.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 855 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 4,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $634,634. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 154,544 shares of company stock valued at $25,413,051 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.6 %

PG opened at $168.56 on Wednesday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1-year low of $141.45 and a 1-year high of $168.97. 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 company has a market cap of $397.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $163.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $157.75.

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

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th were given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 18th. This is an increase from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is presently 65.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.76.

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.