Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Reduces Stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC reduced its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,895 shares of the company’s stock after selling 183 shares during the period. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PG. Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,008 shares of the company’s stock worth $912,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 2.2% during the third quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $445,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,839 shares of the company’s stock worth $856,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Watchman Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.4% during the third quarter. Watchman Group Inc. now owns 18,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,633,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Auxier Asset Management increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.3% in the third quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 20,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,983,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Procter & Gamble from $169.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.41.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.32, for a total value of $3,549,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 36,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,943,835.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 22,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.32, for a total value of $3,549,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 36,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,943,835.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 74,443 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.30, for a total value of $11,412,111.90. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,160.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 279,063 shares of company stock valued at $43,187,745 in the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock traded down $0.29 during trading on Thursday, hitting $162.32. 3,365,834 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,844,717. The stock has a market cap of $381.94 billion, a PE ratio of 27.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $158.17 and its 200 day moving average is $152.09. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12 month low of $141.45 and a 12 month high of $163.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.64.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.14. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 34.04%. The company had revenue of $21.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.59 earnings per share. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 19th were paid a dividend of $0.9407 per share. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is 62.98%.

Procter & Gamble Profile

The Procter & Gamble Company provides branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. It operates through five segments: Beauty; Grooming; Health Care; Fabric & Home Care; and Baby, Feminine & Family Care. The Beauty segment offers conditioners, shampoos, styling aids, and treatments under the Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Pantene, and Rejoice brands; and antiperspirants and deodorants, personal cleansing, and skin care products under the Olay, Old Spice, Safeguard, Secret, and SK-II brands.