Kennedy Investment Group Lowers Stock Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Kennedy Investment Group cut its holdings in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 22,881 shares of the company’s stock after selling 270 shares during the quarter. Procter & Gamble comprises about 1.7% of Kennedy Investment Group’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. Kennedy Investment Group’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $3,836,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PG. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Costello Asset Management INC increased its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2,142.9% during the third quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Mendota Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 58.0% during the fourth quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 138.7% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hara Capital LLC purchased a new position in Procter & Gamble in the third quarter worth approximately $70,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on PG. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.53.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of PG opened at $166.34 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $391.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.45. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $153.52 and a fifty-two week high of $180.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $168.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.76.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its 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. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 32.88% and a net margin of 18.35%. The company had revenue of $21.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.66 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 64.17%.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was 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. This represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,313,845.76. This represents a 34.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 151,097 shares of company stock worth $25,635,076. Company 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.