Procter & Gamble Company (The) $PG Shares Purchased by New England Research & Management Inc.

New England Research & Management Inc. boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble Company (The) (NYSE:PG) by 60.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,395 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,050 shares during the quarter. New England Research & Management Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $1,920,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 51.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 40,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,717,000 after purchasing an additional 13,617 shares in the last quarter. Taylor Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Taylor Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,891 shares of the company’s stock worth $493,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $979,000 after buying an additional 1,016 shares during the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 10.8% during the second quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 7,315 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,165,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.8% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 30,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,809,000 after acquiring an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. TD Cowen lowered Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the company from $150.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $156.00 to $179.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,827 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.31, for a total value of $2,056,296.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 12,639 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,026,158.09. The trade was a 50.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 36,093 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.33, for a total transaction of $5,858,976.69. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 34,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,680,576.02. This represents a 50.77% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 348,618 shares of company stock valued at $55,462,643 over the last three months. 0.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:PG opened at $144.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market capitalization of $335.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.82 and a beta of 0.37. Procter & Gamble Company has a one year low of $137.62 and a one year high of $174.80. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.68.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.36 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 32.21% and a net margin of 19.30%.Procter & Gamble’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 23rd were paid a dividend of $1.0568 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 23rd. This represents a $4.23 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.67%.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is a multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble, P&G has grown into one of the world’s largest producers of branded consumer packaged goods. The company focuses on developing, manufacturing and marketing a broad portfolio of household and personal care products sold to consumers and retailers worldwide.

P&G’s product offering spans several core business categories, including Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric & Home Care, and Baby, Feminine & Family Care.