Certuity LLC Purchases 3,511 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Certuity LLC grew its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 40.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,102 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,511 shares during the quarter. Certuity LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $1,773,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dfpg Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC now owns 24,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,680,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 6.3% in the third quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,419 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. now owns 26,592 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,897,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 14.6% in the third quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 94,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,772,000 after acquiring an additional 12,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,003,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,298,184,000 after acquiring an additional 131,339 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total value of $4,581,309.81. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,858,265.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total transaction of $4,581,309.81. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,507 shares in the company, valued at $1,858,265.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 22,000 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.32, for a total value of $3,549,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 36,845 shares in the company, valued at $5,943,835.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,865 shares of company stock worth $9,009,280 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PG shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Procter & Gamble from $156.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.76.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE PG traded up $0.96 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $162.62. The stock had a trading volume of 3,438,673 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,884,708. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $159.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $153.78. The firm has a market cap of $383.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.44. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $141.45 and a fifty-two week high of $164.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.10. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.91% and a net margin of 18.00%. The business had revenue of $20.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.43 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a $1.0065 dividend. This is a positive change from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.85%.

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.