Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Purchases 1,090 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 147,086 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Procter & Gamble accounts for about 0.8% of Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $25,475,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $639,730,000 after buying an additional 3,674,286 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 16,292.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 3,675,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $606,230,000 after acquiring an additional 3,653,477 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 114.9% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,568,671 shares of the company’s stock valued at $579,017,000 after acquiring an additional 1,907,716 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 416.1% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,818,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,466,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 1st quarter valued at about $233,788,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 3,373 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $573,410.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 21,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,657,210. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total transaction of $108,826.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,319,882.65. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 3,373 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $573,410.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 21,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,657,210. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 397,986 shares of company stock valued at $67,642,430 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Trading Down 1.0 %

PG stock traded down $1.62 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $167.68. The company had a trading volume of 644,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,636,190. The firm has a market capitalization of $394.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.20, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 52-week low of $142.50 and a 52-week high of $177.94. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.79.

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

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.48%.

Procter & Gamble Profile

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.