Benjamin Edwards Inc. Grows Stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 62.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,863 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,407 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $1,462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,552,081 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,546,302,000 after buying an additional 554,451 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,691,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,598,510,000 after buying an additional 733,440 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 6,987,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,023,949,000 after buying an additional 223,798 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,161,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,705,000 after buying an additional 545,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,008,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $974,914,000 after buying an additional 79,665 shares during the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total value of $1,458,045.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,537 shares in the company, valued at $1,902,451.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total transaction of $1,458,045.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,537 shares in the company, valued at $1,902,451.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 72,174 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.01, for a total value of $12,342,475.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 263,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,002,649.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 375,553 shares of company stock worth $63,829,141 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $176.16.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE PG opened at $171.54 on Friday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $141.45 and a 1 year high of $177.94. The firm has a market cap of $404.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.03, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $170.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.59.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.69 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.46% and a net margin of 17.71%. Procter & Gamble’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th were paid a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

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.