Clarus Group Inc. Sells 1,780 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Clarus Group Inc. cut its holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 52.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,589 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,780 shares during the period. Clarus Group Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $275,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PG. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake 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 valued at $3,567,556,000 after buying an additional 122,190 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 733,440 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 9.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,161,507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,705,000 after buying an additional 545,601 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position 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 valued at $974,914,000 after acquiring an additional 79,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 3.9% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,706,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $941,066,000 after purchasing an additional 216,300 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock traded down $2.47 on Monday, reaching $168.81. 1,940,221 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,669,034. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1-year low of $142.50 and a 1-year high of $177.94. The company has a market cap of $398.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $171.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $167.24.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.71% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.69%.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In related news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 3,373 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $573,410.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 21,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,657,210. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 3,373 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $573,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 21,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,657,210. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Andre Schulten sold 13,041 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $2,216,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,325,360. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 383,194 shares of company stock valued at $65,140,718. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PG. Citigroup raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Wolfe Research raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Dbs Bank lowered Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.26.

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.