Smith Thornton Advisors LLC Buys 196 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Smith Thornton Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 3.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,515 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $955,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,567,556,000 after purchasing an additional 122,190 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 8.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,691,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,598,510,000 after acquiring an additional 733,440 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,161,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,705,000 after purchasing an additional 545,601 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.3% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,008,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $974,914,000 after buying an additional 79,665 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in Procter & Gamble by 3.9% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,706,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $941,066,000 after buying an additional 216,300 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Andre Schulten sold 13,041 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $2,216,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 37,208 shares in the company, valued at $6,325,360. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CFO Andre Schulten sold 13,041 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $2,216,970.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 37,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,325,360. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total transaction of $2,163,072.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,954,538.34. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 313,597 shares of company stock valued at $53,268,499. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 1.5 %

PG stock opened at $163.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $171.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.13. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12 month low of $142.50 and a 12 month high of $177.94. The company has a market capitalization of $384.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.42.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The company’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on PG shares. Wolfe Research raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. TD Cowen began coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $189.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Barclays cut shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.00.

About Procter & Gamble

The Procter & Gamble Company engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. The company 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, SK-II, and Native brands.