KLCM Advisors Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

KLCM Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,644 shares of the company’s stock after selling 218 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $1,413,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PG. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 96,526.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,535,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,840,449,000 after buying an additional 38,495,676 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter worth about $3,752,321,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 44,320,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,717,246,000 after purchasing an additional 4,959,527 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 118.1% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,334,342 shares of the company’s stock valued at $961,170,000 after purchasing an additional 3,429,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 6,134,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $898,943,000 after purchasing an additional 3,159,796 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on PG shares. StockNews.com lowered Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Procter & Gamble in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $168.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $165.00 to $168.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.53.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE PG traded up $0.50 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $155.95. 6,103,296 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,114,070. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $141.45 and a 1 year high of $163.14. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $159.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $152.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $366.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.14. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 34.04%. The company had revenue of $21.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.48 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.59 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. This is a boost from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is 62.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.32, for a total transaction of $3,549,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,943,835.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 101,704 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.57, for a total value of $15,618,683.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 163,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,097,637.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.32, for a total transaction of $3,549,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,943,835.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 279,063 shares of company stock valued at $43,187,745. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

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.