Eastover Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Eastover Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 43,328 shares of the company’s stock after selling 898 shares during the period. Procter & Gamble makes up 3.4% of Eastover Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Eastover Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $7,264,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PG. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 7.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,538,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,619,466 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,599,554,000 after buying an additional 689,282 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,567,556,000 after buying an additional 122,190 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Procter & Gamble by 10.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,988,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,290,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,760,214 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 4.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,380,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,183,522,000 after acquiring an additional 830,476 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays cut shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Procter & Gamble in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $209.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Friday, December 27th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $179.75.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

PG opened at $158.73 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $169.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $169.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $373.82 billion, a PE ratio of 27.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.45. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 52 week low of $146.28 and a 52 week high of $180.43.

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

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now owns 11,566 shares in the company, valued at $1,954,538.34. The trade was a 52.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total value of $8,604,804.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,189,463.68. The trade was a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,439 shares of company stock worth $13,317,460 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Profile

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.