Bank OZK Decreases Stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Bank OZK lowered its position in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,690 shares of the company’s stock after selling 353 shares during the quarter. Procter & Gamble comprises approximately 1.4% of Bank OZK’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Bank OZK’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $2,885,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Investment Partners LTD. grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 10,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 2,317 shares during the period. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 4,262 shares of the company’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Addison Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 7,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,209 shares during the period. Gilliland Jeter Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter worth about $1,190,000. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 33.7% during the 4th quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 473,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,393,000 after acquiring an additional 119,406 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 45,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.00, for a total transaction of $7,020,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 973 shares in the company, valued at approximately $151,788. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.00, for a total value of $7,020,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 973 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $151,788. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total value of $4,581,309.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,858,265.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 100,865 shares of company stock worth $16,029,280 in the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on PG shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Argus boosted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Procter & Gamble from $156.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $169.76.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

Shares of PG stock traded down $1.26 on Friday, hitting $161.29. 5,659,784 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,820,118. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $380.67 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.44. 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 moving average is $159.64 and its 200 day moving average is $153.51.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 33.91% and a net margin of 18.00%. The business’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.85%.

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.