Phoenix Financial Ltd. Sells 6,214 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Phoenix Financial Ltd. decreased its holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,410 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,214 shares during the period. Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $5,266,000 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. F M Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. F M Investments LLC now owns 62,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,461,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. raised its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 59,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,971,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the period. Tandem Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter worth $737,000. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1,709.5% in the fourth quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,006,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,825,000 after acquiring an additional 1,895,421 shares during the period. Finally, Straightline Group LLC purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $248,000. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays restated an “equal weight” rating on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $209.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $182.00.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 2.6 %

PG stock opened at $162.51 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $381.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $168.48 and its 200 day moving average is $168.72. 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 Procter & Gamble Company has a 12 month low of $153.52 and a 12 month high of $180.43.

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

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be given a dividend of $1.0568 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. This is an increase from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. This represents a $4.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 64.01%.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In other news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.68, for a total transaction of $6,078,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,829,817.68. This trade represents a 61.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total value of $14,819,328.00. Following the sale, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 143,450 shares of company stock worth $23,988,008. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.