Appleton Partners Inc. MA Lowers Stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA decreased its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,346 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,517 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $10,955,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in PG. Acorn Creek Capital LLC increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 2,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 5,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $963,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.7% during the third quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 11.2% in the third quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PG has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.53.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

NYSE PG opened at $167.99 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $167.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.41. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $153.52 and a 1 year high of $180.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $393.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.45.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.00% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm had revenue of $21.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $2,210,944.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,002,804.35. This trade represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,313,845.76. This trade represents a 34.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 151,097 shares of company stock valued at $25,635,076. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble Co engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods. It operates through the following segments: Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric and Home Care, and Baby, Feminine and Family Care. The Beauty segment offers hair, skin, and personal care. The Grooming segment consists of shave care like female and male blades and razors, pre and post shave products, and appliances.