Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Grows Stake in Procter & Gamble Company (The) $PG

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble Company (The) (NYSE:PG) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 276,433 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,727 shares during the quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $42,474,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 51.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 40,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,717,000 after buying an additional 13,617 shares during the period. Taylor Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 10.6% during the first quarter. Taylor Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,891 shares of the company’s stock valued at $493,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 19.8% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,144 shares of the company’s stock worth $979,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016 shares during the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 10.8% in the second quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 7,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,165,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 30,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,809,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.0%

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $150.57 on Monday. Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $137.62 and a 1 year high of $174.80. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $153.32 and its 200-day moving average is $150.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.72. The company has a market cap of $349.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.36 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 32.21%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 23rd were issued a dividend of $1.0568 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 23rd. This represents a $4.23 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is 62.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In related news, insider Moses Victor Javier Aguilar sold 15,169 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.28, for a total transaction of $2,461,625.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 44,735 shares in the company, valued at $7,259,595.80. This represents a 25.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 1,809 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.46, for a total value of $288,463.14. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 30,215 shares in the company, valued at $4,818,083.90. This represents a 5.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 348,618 shares of company stock worth $55,462,643. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on PG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $157.00 to $165.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Dbs Bank raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 8th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.33.

About Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is a multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble, P&G has grown into one of the world’s largest producers of branded consumer packaged goods. The company focuses on developing, manufacturing and marketing a broad portfolio of household and personal care products sold to consumers and retailers worldwide.

P&G’s product offering spans several core business categories, including Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric & Home Care, and Baby, Feminine & Family Care.