Ascent Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 1,458 The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Ascent Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $244,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 933.3% in the 4th quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 155 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. LFA Lugano Financial Advisors SA acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 972.0% in the fourth quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 268 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PG has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $209.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $173.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.66, for a total value of $3,089,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,785,274.66. The trade was a 44.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total value of $14,819,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,313,845.76. This trade represents a 34.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 143,450 shares of company stock valued at $23,988,008 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Procter & Gamble Trading Down 0.2 %

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $168.20 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $394.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.41. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $153.52 and a fifty-two week high of $180.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $167.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $169.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.76.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $21.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.66 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.00% and a net margin of 18.35%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is 64.01%.

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.