The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Shares Acquired by Sterling Financial Planning Inc.

Sterling Financial Planning Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 45.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,533 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,097 shares during the period. Sterling Financial Planning Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $518,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.1% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 46,754,131 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,936,343,000 after purchasing an additional 510,559 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 12.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 44,320,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,717,246,000 after buying an additional 4,959,527 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 96,526.4% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,535,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,840,449,000 after buying an additional 38,495,676 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 9.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,608,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,193,916,000 after buying an additional 3,047,557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 2.3% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,313,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,275,616,000 after buying an additional 670,862 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 3,865 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.60, for a total transaction of $620,719.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,908,891.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 101,704 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now owns 163,428 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,097,637.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 3,865 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.60, for a total transaction of $620,719.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,908,891.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 279,063 shares of company stock valued at $43,187,745 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of PG traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $157.16. The company had a trading volume of 7,812,560 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,858,717. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.80. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $141.45 and a fifty-two week high of $163.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $369.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.44.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.14. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 34.04%. The business had revenue of $21.44 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.48 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.59 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This is an increase from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 62.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $169.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Barclays increased 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.53.

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.