Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC raised its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 38,978 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,365 shares during the quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $6,535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 7.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,538,327,000 after acquiring an additional 3,619,466 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,599,554,000 after purchasing an additional 689,282 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of 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. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Procter & Gamble by 10.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,988,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,290,573,000 after buying an additional 1,760,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 4.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,380,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,183,522,000 after buying an additional 830,476 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on PG shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $167.00 to $161.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI raised 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. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $190.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.65.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 1.8 %

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $164.57 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $169.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.41. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 52-week low of $152.06 and a 52-week high of $180.43. 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 company has a market cap of $387.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.45.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The business had revenue of $21.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21,657,595.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.92 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 69.48%.

Insider Activity

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $2,210,944.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,002,804.35. The trade was a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total transaction of $8,604,804.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,189,463.68. This trade represents a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Profile

Procter & Gamble Co engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods. It operates through the following segments: Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric and Home Care, and Baby, Feminine and Family Care. The Beauty segment offers hair, skin, and personal care. The Grooming segment consists of shave care like female and male blades and razors, pre and post shave products, and appliances.