Meridian Wealth Management LLC Invests $10.07 Million in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 58,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,072,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,567,556,000 after buying an additional 122,190 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,422,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,844,442,000 after buying an additional 105,734 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Procter & Gamble by 8.2% during 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 buying an additional 733,440 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 7,005,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,213,403,000 after purchasing an additional 39,000 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.3% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,008,938 shares of the company’s stock valued at $974,914,000 after purchasing an additional 79,665 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on PG shares. Dbs Bank downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Monday, October 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.00.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 1.0 %

PG stock opened at $174.48 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $170.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.54. 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 cap of $410.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

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

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.48%.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total value of $2,163,072.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,954,538.34. This represents a 52.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 87,979 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.40, for a total transaction of $14,991,621.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 300,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,252,400.80. The trade was a 22.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 160,693 shares of company stock valued at $27,311,345 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.