Howe & Rusling Inc. Raises Stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Howe & Rusling Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,654 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 297 shares during the quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wyrmwood Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 636.6% during the fourth quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on PG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $156.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $169.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.76.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.0 %

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $163.45 on Thursday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $141.45 and a fifty-two week high of $164.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.69. The company has a market capitalization of $385.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $159.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $153.97.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $20.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.43 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.91% and a net margin of 18.00%. The firm’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This is an increase from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total transaction of $5,049,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,586,483.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total value of $5,049,900.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 9,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,586,483.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total value of $122,693.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,256.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 86,865 shares of company stock valued at $14,059,180 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.