Howard Bailey Securities LLC Purchases 447 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Howard Bailey Securities LLC increased its holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 37.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,644 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the period. Howard Bailey Securities LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PG. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 972.0% in the 4th quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 268 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter valued at about $46,000. Costello Asset Management INC boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 2,142.9% during the third quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 46.7% in the fourth quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 330 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock opened at $169.58 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $397.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.45. The Procter & Gamble Company has a one year low of $153.52 and a one year high of $180.43. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $166.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.44.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 33.00%. The firm had revenue of $21.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 64.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $2,210,944.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,595 shares in the company, valued at $2,002,804.35. This trade represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,313,845.76. This represents a 34.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 151,097 shares of company stock worth $25,635,076. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.53.

About Procter & Gamble

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.