Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 23,853 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 6.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 384,725 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,853 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $63,449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,956,117,000. TD Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 114.9% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,568,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,017,000 after purchasing an additional 1,907,716 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 1st quarter worth approximately $233,788,000. Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 1st quarter worth approximately $228,212,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 32.7% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,615,906 shares of the company’s stock worth $830,256,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385,146 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Dbs Bank cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.79.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.9 %

PG traded up $1.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $171.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,301,617 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,572,756. The firm has a market capitalization of $404.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.03, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.41. The Procter & Gamble Company has a twelve month low of $141.45 and a twelve month high of $171.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $167.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $164.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $20.69 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.46% and a net margin of 17.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, July 19th were issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 19th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andre Schulten sold 13,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $2,216,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 37,208 shares in the company, valued at $6,325,360. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Procter & Gamble news, CFO Andre Schulten sold 13,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $2,216,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 37,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,325,360. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were 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 owns 11,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,902,451.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 375,553 shares of company stock worth $63,829,141. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Procter & Gamble

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.