First Western Trust Bank Trims Stock Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

First Western Trust Bank trimmed its holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 25.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,288 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,486 shares during the quarter. First Western Trust Bank’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $2,472,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of PG. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $276,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 7.2% in the first quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 5.7% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 18,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Ergoteles LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the first quarter worth $3,073,000. Finally, Wsfs Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 12.0% in the first quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC now owns 4,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $650,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. 63.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on PG. HSBC began coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $179.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $153.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 12th. Bank of America increased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, DZ Bank raised Procter & Gamble from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $165.83.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In related news, CFO Andre Schulten sold 40,298 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.61, for a total transaction of $6,069,281.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 36,460 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,491,240.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Procter & Gamble news, CAO Matthew W. Janzaruk sold 188 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.52, for a total value of $27,921.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 626 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,973.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Andre Schulten sold 40,298 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Monday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.61, for a total transaction of $6,069,281.78. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 36,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,491,240.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 96,088 shares of company stock valued at $14,565,908 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE PG traded down $1.20 on Monday, reaching $149.87. 1,998,335 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,205,567. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12 month low of $135.83 and a 12 month high of $158.38. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $149.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $150.65. The company has a market cap of $353.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 18th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.71 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $21.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.58 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.30% and a return on equity of 33.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 20th were given a dividend of $0.9407 per share. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 19th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.04%.

About Procter & Gamble

The Procter & Gamble Company provides branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. It 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, and SK-II brands.