Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 1,592,061 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 229,794,073 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,592,061 shares during the period. Procter & Gamble makes up about 0.7% of Vanguard Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of Procter & Gamble worth $38,524,976,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 933.3% in the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 95.3% during the fourth quarter. Atlantic Private Wealth LLC now owns 207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC acquired a new position in Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In related news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of Procter & Gamble 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,313,845.76. The trade was a 34.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.66, for a total value of $3,089,880.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,051 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,274.66. The trade was a 44.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 143,450 shares of company stock worth $23,988,008 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on PG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.47.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

PG opened at $166.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $390.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $167.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.69. The Procter & Gamble Company has a one year low of $153.52 and a one year high of $180.43.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.00% and a net margin of 18.35%. The company had revenue of $21.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.66 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.01%.

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.