Kozak & Associates Inc. Boosts Stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Kozak & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,746 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Kozak & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $784,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 7.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,538,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,619,466 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,599,554,000 after acquiring an additional 689,282 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 122,190 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,988,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,290,573,000 after buying an additional 1,760,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,380,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,183,522,000 after buying an additional 830,476 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on PG. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Barclays downgraded Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $209.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Friday, December 27th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

PG stock traded down $4.08 during trading on Monday, hitting $161.05. 3,712,378 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,738,568. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 52 week low of $146.28 and a 52 week high of $180.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $379.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.45. 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 fifty day moving average price of $170.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $169.85.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. Procter & Gamble’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 69.31%.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $2,210,944.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,002,804.35. This represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 1,992 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $338,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,783 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,343,110. This trade represents a 12.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,439 shares of company stock valued at $13,317,460 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Company 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.