Zhang Financial LLC Increases Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Zhang Financial LLC raised its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,126 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 563 shares during the quarter. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $3,535,000 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 the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 46,754,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,936,343,000 after purchasing an additional 510,559 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 44,320,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,717,246,000 after acquiring an additional 4,959,527 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 96,526.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,535,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,840,449,000 after acquiring an additional 38,495,676 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 9.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,608,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,193,916,000 after acquiring an additional 3,047,557 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,313,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,275,616,000 after acquiring an additional 670,862 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $169.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total transaction of $122,693.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,859 shares in the company, valued at $768,256.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total value of $122,693.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,256.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 101,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.57, for a total transaction of $15,618,683.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 163,428 shares in the company, valued at $25,097,637.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 279,063 shares of company stock worth $43,187,745. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

PG traded up $0.17 on Friday, reaching $157.46. The stock had a trading volume of 6,684,953 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,859,360. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12-month low of $141.45 and a 12-month high of $163.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $159.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $152.83. The company has a market cap of $370.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.44.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 34.04%. The company had revenue of $20.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.43 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a $1.0065 dividend. This is a positive change from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.34%.

Procter & Gamble Company 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.