The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Shares Purchased by LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,610 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $1,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,608,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,193,916,000 after acquiring an additional 3,047,557 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,313,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,275,616,000 after acquiring an additional 670,862 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,003,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,298,184,000 after acquiring an additional 131,339 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,170,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,629,299,000 after acquiring an additional 346,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,492,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,390,963,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387,539 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $169.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.76.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of PG traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $163.82. The stock had a trading volume of 1,711,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,885,454. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1-year low of $141.45 and a 1-year high of $164.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $159.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $153.97. The company has a market cap of $386.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.43 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 33.91%. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. This is an increase from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.85%.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In related news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total value of $5,049,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,586,483.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Procter & Gamble news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total transaction of $5,049,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,586,483.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total transaction of $4,581,309.81. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,507 shares in the company, valued at $1,858,265.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 86,865 shares of company stock valued at $14,059,180 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.