B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG Takes $301.95 Million Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,743,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $301,950,000. Procter & Gamble makes up 3.0% of B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 19,030.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,693,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,730,000 after purchasing an additional 3,674,286 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Procter & Gamble by 16,292.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 3,675,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,230,000 after buying an additional 3,653,477 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 416.1% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,818,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,016,000 after acquiring an additional 1,466,115 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 1st quarter worth about $233,788,000. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 1st quarter valued at about $228,212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on PG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $159.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total transaction of $108,826.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,319,882.65. This represents a 3.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $16,320,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,721 shares in the company, valued at $2,332,570. This represents a 87.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 270,727 shares of company stock valued at $46,014,037. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of PG opened at $170.80 on Tuesday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12-month low of $142.50 and a 12-month high of $177.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $402.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $170.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.45. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The business’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.48%.

Procter & Gamble 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.