Southern Style Financial Inc. Makes New Investment in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Southern Style Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 15,121 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,534,000. Procter & Gamble accounts for 2.1% of Southern Style Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of PG. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Procter & Gamble by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 94,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,300,000 after purchasing an additional 4,035 shares during the period. Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $668,000. Fortem Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $569,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,898,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $484,583,000 after buying an additional 201,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 3.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 185,134 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,065,000 after acquiring an additional 6,077 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 172,814 shares in the company, valued at $28,313,845.76. This trade represents a 34.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $2,210,944.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 151,097 shares of company stock valued at $25,635,076. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on PG. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Hsbc Global Res raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.53.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of PG stock opened at $166.34 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $168.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.41. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 52-week low of $153.52 and a 52-week high of $180.43. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $391.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.45.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $21.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.66 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 32.88% and a net margin of 18.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

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

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.