Banco Santander S.A. Cuts Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Banco Santander S.A. trimmed its holdings in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 4.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 170,441 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,803 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $29,520,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 5.5% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 32,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,192,000 after buying an additional 1,657 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,733,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Inc. CA increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 19.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 41,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,762,000 after buying an additional 6,908 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 6.6% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 7,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,161,000 after buying an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 15.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,489,899 shares of the company’s stock valued at $890,736,000 after acquiring an additional 742,460 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on PG. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Wolfe Research raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In related news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total transaction of $108,826.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,319,882.65. This represents a 3.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 87,979 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.40, for a total transaction of $14,991,621.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 300,777 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,252,400.80. This trade represents a 22.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 174,727 shares of company stock valued at $29,694,037 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.2 %

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $171.31 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $170.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.51. The company has a market capitalization of $403.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.42. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 52 week low of $142.50 and a 52 week high of $177.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 69.48%.

Procter & Gamble Company 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.