Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Increases Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 6.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,158 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 446 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $1,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 3.4% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 4,417,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $718,760,000 after buying an additional 145,523 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 16.4% in the first quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 4,724 shares of the company’s stock valued at $767,000 after buying an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Peninsula Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the first quarter valued at about $219,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the first quarter valued at about $4,438,000. Finally, Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the first quarter valued at about $1,654,000. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $189.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.95.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PG traded up $4.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $170.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,899,038 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,952,473. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $166.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $162.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $401.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.41. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $141.45 and a fifty-two week high of $170.92.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.33% and a net margin of 17.71%. The company had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 19th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Moses Victor Javier Aguilar sold 9,149 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.72, for a total transaction of $1,534,470.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,929 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,168,451.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Moses Victor Javier Aguilar sold 9,149 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.72, for a total value of $1,534,470.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,929 shares in the company, valued at $2,168,451.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar G. Raman sold 31,924 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.95, for a total value of $5,329,711.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,179,061.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 94,320 shares of company stock valued at $15,646,323. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

The Procter & Gamble Company provides branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. It 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, and SK-II brands.