Sara Bay Financial Lowers Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Sara Bay Financial lowered its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,325 shares of the company’s stock after selling 211 shares during the period. Sara Bay Financial’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $556,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PG. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 4.5% in the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 94,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,300,000 after buying an additional 4,035 shares during the period. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter valued at $668,000. Fortem Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter valued at $569,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 185,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,065,000 after purchasing an additional 6,077 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,898,569 shares of the company’s stock valued at $484,583,000 after purchasing an additional 201,695 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total transaction of $2,163,072.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,566 shares in the company, valued at $1,954,538.34. The trade was a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 1,992 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $338,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,110. The trade was a 12.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 75,439 shares of company stock worth $13,317,460. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.5 %

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $161.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.75. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $146.28 and a 1 year high of $180.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $169.19 and its 200-day moving average is $169.42. The company has a market cap of $379.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.82, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.45.

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

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.31%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PG shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $167.00 to $161.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $209.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Friday, December 27th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $163.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.65.

About Procter & Gamble

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.