Hennessy Advisors Inc. Buys 10,250 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 30.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 44,250 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,250 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $7,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Costello Asset Management INC raised its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2,142.9% in the third quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Procter & Gamble in the second quarter worth $58,000. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on PG. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Procter & Gamble from $190.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.65.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

PG stock opened at $161.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $379.98 billion, a PE ratio of 27.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $169.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.39. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $146.28 and a fifty-two week high of $180.43.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.93 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is presently 69.48%.

Insider Activity

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total transaction of $8,604,804.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,189,463.68. This trade represents a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total value of $2,163,072.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,954,538.34. This trade represents a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 75,439 shares of company stock valued at $13,317,460. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.