Ninety One UK Ltd Buys 20,638 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 461,099 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,638 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $67,569,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of PG. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.1% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 46,754,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,936,343,000 after purchasing an additional 510,559 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 44,320,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,717,246,000 after buying an additional 4,959,527 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 96,526.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,535,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,840,449,000 after acquiring an additional 38,495,676 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Procter & Gamble by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,608,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,193,916,000 after purchasing an additional 3,047,557 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,313,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,275,616,000 after acquiring an additional 670,862 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on PG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $168.00 target price for the company. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $156.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.53.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.3 %

Procter & Gamble stock traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $156.38. The company had a trading volume of 3,271,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,802,070. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $159.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $152.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.64. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $141.45 and a 1 year high of $163.14. The firm has a market cap of $367.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.44.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.14. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 34.04% and a net margin of 17.60%. The firm had revenue of $21.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. This is an increase from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.98%.

Insider Activity

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 4,859 shares in the company, valued at $768,256.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 101,704 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.57, for a total transaction of $15,618,683.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 163,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,097,637.96. The sale 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 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,859 shares in the company, valued at $768,256.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 279,063 shares of company stock worth $43,187,745. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

About Procter & Gamble

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.