BNP Paribas Cuts Stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

BNP Paribas decreased its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 76,325 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,497 shares during the period. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $13,213,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the second quarter worth $44,000. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 1.1 %

PG opened at $179.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $422.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.92, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.42. The Procter & Gamble Company has a one year low of $142.50 and a one year high of $179.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. Procter & Gamble’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.96 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $209.00 in a report on Monday. 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total transaction of $2,163,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,566 shares in the company, valued at $1,954,538.34. This trade represents a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 1,992 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $338,640.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,343,110. This represents a 12.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,233 shares of company stock valued at $6,024,234 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Procter & Gamble

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.