The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Shares Purchased by Bridgewater Advisors Inc.

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 2.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,963 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $3,029,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PG. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Costello Asset Management INC raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2,142.9% during the 3rd quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 314 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter valued at about $58,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total transaction of $8,604,804.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,189,463.68. The trade was a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $2,210,944.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 73,447 shares of company stock valued at $12,978,820. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $209.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Friday, December 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Procter & Gamble from $190.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $163.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price 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. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.65.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

Shares of PG opened at $161.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $379.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.45. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 52-week low of $146.28 and a 52-week high of $180.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $169.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.46.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The firm had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 69.48%.

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.