S.A. Mason LLC Acquires 129 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

S.A. Mason LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 0.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,153 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the quarter. Procter & Gamble comprises 1.4% of S.A. Mason LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. S.A. Mason LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $2,296,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of PG. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,608,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,193,916,000 after buying an additional 3,047,557 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,956,117,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,209,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,552,000 after buying an additional 206,165 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,170,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,629,299,000 after buying an additional 346,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,556,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,547,021,000 after purchasing an additional 559,358 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on PG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Argus lifted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.72.

Procter & Gamble Trading Down 0.5 %

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $166.62 on Friday. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $165.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $158.54. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12 month low of $141.45 and a 12 month high of $169.41. The company has a market capitalization of $393.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.42.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th were issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. 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. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total value of $4,581,309.81. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,858,265.43. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total transaction of $4,581,309.81. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,858,265.43. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar G. Raman sold 31,924 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,179,061.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 154,544 shares of company stock valued at $25,413,051. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.