St. Louis Trust Co Cuts Stock Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

St. Louis Trust Co lessened its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 11.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 4,908 shares of the company’s stock after selling 619 shares during the quarter. St. Louis Trust Co’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $719,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dfpg Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC now owns 24,892 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,680,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 6.3% in the third quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. now owns 26,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,897,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 14.6% in the third quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 94,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after buying an additional 12,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,003,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,298,184,000 after buying an additional 131,339 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 3,865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.60, for a total value of $620,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,908,891.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 22,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.32, for a total transaction of $3,549,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,845 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,943,835.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 3,865 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.60, for a total value of $620,719.00. Following the transaction, the insider now 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 sold a total of 55,865 shares of company stock worth $9,009,280 in the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of PG traded up $1.58 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $163.24. 8,105,773 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,942,727. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.69. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12-month low of $141.45 and a 12-month high of $164.32. The company has a market cap of $385.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.44. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $159.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.78.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $20.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.43 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.91% and a net margin of 18.00%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.37 earnings per share. 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a $1.0065 dividend. This is a boost from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on PG shares. StockNews.com lowered Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group upped their target price on Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays boosted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus boosted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $169.76.

Procter & Gamble Profile

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.