The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Trims Stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,000,894 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,876 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $346,555,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of PG. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Procter & Gamble in the second quarter worth $34,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Procter & Gamble in the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the second quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total transaction of $2,163,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,954,538.34. The trade was a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 37,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.89, for a total value of $6,289,463.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 263,537 shares in the company, valued at $44,508,763.93. This trade represents a 12.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 72,473 shares of company stock valued at $12,313,697. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on PG shares. Barclays cut Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Dbs Bank cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE PG opened at $177.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.74. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12 month low of $142.50 and a 12 month high of $178.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $417.78 billion, a PE ratio of 30.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.42.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.99 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. Procter & Gamble’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.31%.

Procter & Gamble Profile

The Procter & Gamble Company engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. The company operates through five segments: Beauty; Grooming; Health Care; Fabric & Home Care; and Baby, Feminine & Family Care. The Beauty segment offers conditioners, shampoos, styling aids, and treatments under the Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Pantene, and Rejoice brands; and antiperspirants and deodorants, personal cleansing, and skin care products under the Olay, Old Spice, Safeguard, Secret, SK-II, and Native brands.