First Merchants Corp Buys 353 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

First Merchants Corp raised its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 65,337 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the period. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $10,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,538,327,000 after acquiring an additional 3,619,466 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Procter & Gamble by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,599,554,000 after purchasing an additional 689,282 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 10.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,988,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,290,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760,214 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,380,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,183,522,000 after buying an additional 830,476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,422,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,844,442,000 after buying an additional 105,734 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $171.15 on Friday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $153.52 and a fifty-two week high of $180.43. The company has a market capitalization of $401.33 billion, a PE ratio of 27.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $166.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $169.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $21.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.66 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.00% and a net margin of 18.35%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.01%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 11,595 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 151,097 shares of company stock worth $25,635,076. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on PG. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $209.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently 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.