Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 258,685 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 25.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,257,424 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 258,685 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.05% of Procter & Gamble worth $217,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 64.7% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. DZ Bank raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com cut Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $189.00 target price on the stock. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.00.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.0 %

PG opened at $169.64 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $171.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.45. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1-year low of $142.50 and a 1-year high of $177.94. The stock has a market cap of $399.51 billion, a PE ratio of 29.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

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

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $108,826.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,341 shares in the company, valued at $3,319,882.65. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $108,826.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,341 shares in the company, valued at $3,319,882.65. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total transaction of $1,458,045.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,902,451.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 385,186 shares of company stock valued at $65,479,358. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

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.