Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Grows Stock Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. boosted its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,090 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $1,292,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PG. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 19,030.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,693,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,730,000 after buying an additional 3,674,286 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,538,327,000 after acquiring an additional 3,619,466 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,988,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,290,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,760,214 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 3rd quarter worth about $301,950,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 416.1% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,818,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,466,115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $190.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group cut their target price on Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $163.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.65.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

NYSE PG opened at $161.35 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $169.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $169.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $379.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.82, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.45. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12-month low of $146.28 and a 12-month high of $180.43.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.93 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $2,210,944.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,002,804.35. The trade was a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total transaction of $8,604,804.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,977 shares in the company, valued at $7,189,463.68. This represents a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 75,439 shares of company stock valued at $13,317,460. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

Procter & Gamble Co engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods. It operates through the following segments: Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric and Home Care, and Baby, Feminine and Family Care. The Beauty segment offers hair, skin, and personal care. The Grooming segment consists of shave care like female and male blades and razors, pre and post shave products, and appliances.