Sapient Capital LLC Sells 883 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Sapient Capital LLC cut its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 71,898 shares of the company’s stock after selling 883 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $12,054,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of PG. Paladin Wealth LLC lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Paladin Wealth LLC now owns 5,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $933,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Pineridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 90.8% during the 4th quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC now owns 1,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the period. Panoramic Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter worth approximately $316,000. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 276.9% in the fourth quarter. International Private Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 4,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Trust Co LLC raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 3,614 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,078 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total value of $8,604,804.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,189,463.68. This represents a 54.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,002,804.35. This represents a 52.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 151,097 shares of company stock valued at $25,635,076. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 0.3 %

PG stock opened at $167.45 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.76. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $153.52 and a fifty-two week high of $180.43. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $167.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $169.43. The company has a market cap of $392.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.45.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 33.00%. The business had revenue of $21.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 64.17%.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

Procter & Gamble Co engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods. It operates through the following segments: Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric and Home Care, and Baby, Feminine and Family Care. The Beauty segment offers hair, skin, and personal care. The Grooming segment consists of shave care like female and male blades and razors, pre and post shave products, and appliances.