bLong Financial LLC Takes $504,000 Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

bLong Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 3,009 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $504,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 972.0% during the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. Costello Asset Management INC increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2,142.9% during the third quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 46.7% during the fourth quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PG shares. UBS Group reduced their price target on Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.53.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 4.8 %

PG stock opened at $162.84 on Friday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a twelve month low of $153.52 and a twelve month high of $180.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $381.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $166.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $169.40.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.00% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm had revenue of $21.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 64.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 11,595 shares in the company, valued at $2,002,804.35. This trade represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,313,845.76. This represents a 34.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 151,097 shares of company stock valued at $25,635,076 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble 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.