M&G Plc Sells 3,849 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

M&G Plc decreased its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 131,158 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,849 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $22,690,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,567,556,000 after purchasing an additional 122,190 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Procter & Gamble by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,691,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,598,510,000 after acquiring an additional 733,440 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,161,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,705,000 after purchasing an additional 545,601 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,008,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $974,914,000 after buying an additional 79,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,706,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $941,066,000 after buying an additional 216,300 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DZ Bank upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $189.00 target price for the company. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.00.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 31,797 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total transaction of $5,380,688.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 300,777 shares in the company, valued at $50,897,483.94. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 31,797 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total transaction of $5,380,688.34. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 300,777 shares in the company, valued at $50,897,483.94. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total transaction of $108,826.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,319,882.65. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 313,597 shares of company stock worth $53,268,499. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:PG opened at $163.41 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $171.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.13. The company has a market capitalization of $384.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.42. 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 Procter & Gamble Company has a 52-week low of $142.50 and a 52-week high of $177.94.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 69.48%.

Procter & Gamble Profile

The Procter & Gamble Company engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. The company 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, SK-II, and Native brands.