Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC cut its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 51,618 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,133 shares during the quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $8,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Procter & Gamble in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Costello Asset Management INC raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 2,142.9% in the third quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at $58,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 58.0% during the 4th quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 138.7% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 401 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Trading Down 1.0 %

PG opened at $164.41 on Monday. 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 Procter & Gamble Company has a one year low of $152.06 and a one year high of $180.43. The company has a market cap of $387.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $168.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.37.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $21.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21,657,595.49 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 32.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.84 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $209.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $2,210,944.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,002,804.35. This trade represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total transaction of $8,604,804.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,189,463.68. This trade represents a 54.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Procter & Gamble

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.