Berkshire Bank Trims Stock Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Berkshire Bank lessened its holdings in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,724 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,140 shares during the quarter. Procter & Gamble makes up approximately 1.4% of Berkshire Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Berkshire Bank’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $5,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PG. Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Proquility Private Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,008 shares of the company’s stock valued at $912,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. KFA Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $445,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,839 shares of the company’s stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Watchman Group Inc. increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Watchman Group Inc. now owns 18,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,633,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Auxier Asset Management increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Auxier Asset Management now owns 20,448 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,983,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on PG. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $156.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.41.

Procter & Gamble Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of PG stock opened at $160.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $377.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $141.45 and a fifty-two week high of $163.14. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $159.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $152.32.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $21.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.48 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 34.04%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was up 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 19th were paid a dividend of $0.9407 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 18th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 101,704 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.57, for a total transaction of $15,618,683.28. Following the sale, the insider now owns 163,428 shares in the company, valued at $25,097,637.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 101,704 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.57, for a total transaction of $15,618,683.28. Following the sale, the insider now owns 163,428 shares in the company, valued at $25,097,637.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 3,865 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.60, for a total transaction of $620,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,886 shares in the company, valued at $1,908,891.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 279,063 shares of company stock worth $43,187,745 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.