First Merchants Corp Increases Stock Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

First Merchants Corp raised its holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 65,337 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 353 shares during the quarter. First Merchants Corp’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $10,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PG. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.1% in the third quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 5,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 605 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Tevis Investment Management increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Tevis Investment Management now owns 11,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Dakota Community Bank & Trust NA now owns 2,078 shares of the company’s stock valued at $348,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of PG stock opened at $171.15 on Friday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1-year low of $153.52 and a 1-year high of $180.43. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $166.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.44. The firm has a market cap of $401.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.25, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $21.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.66 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 33.00%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.84 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.01%.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In related news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,313,845.76. This represents a 34.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $2,210,944.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,002,804.35. This represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 151,097 shares of company stock worth $25,635,076 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on PG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target 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 assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.53.

About Procter & Gamble

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.