Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Lowers Stock Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC trimmed its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 63,631 shares of the company’s stock after selling 897 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $10,668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 19,030.8% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,693,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,730,000 after buying an additional 3,674,286 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 16,292.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 3,675,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,230,000 after purchasing an additional 3,653,477 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,538,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,619,466 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 10.2% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter valued at about $301,950,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 1,992 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $338,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,110. The trade was a 12.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 11,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,954,538.34. This trade represents a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 75,439 shares of company stock worth $13,317,460 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on PG shares. Evercore ISI boosted 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. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Procter & Gamble from $190.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.75.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

NYSE PG traded down $2.84 on Friday, hitting $159.26. 2,729,692 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,898,862. 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 50-day moving average price is $169.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.64. The firm has a market cap of $375.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.45. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $146.28 and a fifty-two week high of $180.43.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

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.