Hanson & Doremus Investment Management Grows Stock Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Hanson & Doremus Investment Management grew its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 14,932 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,183 shares during the quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $2,503,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:PG opened at $167.43 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.39. The stock has a market cap of $394.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.45. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $153.52 and a 1 year high of $180.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 32.88% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business had revenue of $21.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 64.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,313,845.76. This represents a 34.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $2,210,944.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,002,804.35. This represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 151,097 shares of company stock valued at $25,635,076. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on PG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $209.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.53.

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.