Mach 1 Financial Group LLC Trims Stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Mach 1 Financial Group LLC lowered its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,651 shares of the company’s stock after selling 410 shares during the quarter. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $2,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in PG. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 6,134,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $898,943,000 after purchasing an additional 3,159,796 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 9.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,608,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,193,916,000 after purchasing an additional 3,047,557 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 13,850.3% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,747,379 shares of the company’s stock worth $402,601,000 after purchasing an additional 2,727,685 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 235.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,231,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $473,475,000 after purchasing an additional 2,268,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the third quarter worth about $246,412,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In other news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total transaction of $122,693.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,256.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total value of $4,581,309.81. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,858,265.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total transaction of $122,693.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,256.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,865 shares of company stock valued at $9,009,280 in the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on PG. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $156.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Truist Financial upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $175.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.76.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

PG traded up $1.58 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $163.24. 8,105,773 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,942,727. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $141.45 and a 1 year high of $164.32. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $385.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $159.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.91.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 33.91%. The company had revenue of $20.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.43 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. Procter & Gamble’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This is a positive change from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.85%.

Procter & Gamble Company 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.