Enhancing Capital LLC Acquires New Shares in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Enhancing Capital LLC acquired a new stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PG. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,503,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,432,000 after purchasing an additional 56,583 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,442,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 14.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,734,588 shares of the company’s stock valued at $820,031,000 after acquiring an additional 608,168 shares in the last quarter. United Bank grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 13,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,315,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 23.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 314,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,541,000 after acquiring an additional 59,886 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PG has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.47.

Procter & Gamble Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of PG stock opened at $167.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $167.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $169.78. 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 company has a market capitalization of $393.14 billion, a PE ratio of 26.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.41. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12-month low of $153.52 and a 12-month high of $180.43.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 33.00%. The company 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 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 64.01%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total value of $14,819,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 172,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,313,845.76. The trade was a 34.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 35,000 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.68, for a total transaction of $6,078,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,051 shares in the company, valued at $3,829,817.68. This trade represents a 61.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,450 shares of company stock worth $23,988,008. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.