Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Grows Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,724 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 769 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $4,648,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PG. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Costello Asset Management INC boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2,142.9% in the 3rd quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at about $58,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 138.7% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 3.3 %

PG stock opened at $169.57 on Tuesday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a one year low of $153.52 and a one year high of $180.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $399.34 billion, a PE ratio of 27.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a fifty day moving average of $168.85 and a 200-day moving average of $169.39.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $21.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21,657,595.49 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 32.88%. The business’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. As a group, analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.17%.

Insider Activity

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,002,804.35. This trade represents a 52.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,313,845.76. This trade represents a 34.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 151,097 shares of company stock worth $25,635,076 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on PG. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. UBS Group cut their target price 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. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $209.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued 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 price target of $180.53.

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.