Criterion Capital Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 228 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 4,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 1,471 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 64,547 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,459,000 after buying an additional 902 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 30,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,524,000 after buying an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 120,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,708,000 after buying an additional 2,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Planning Directions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Planning Directions Inc. now owns 2,457 shares of the company’s stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 101,704 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.57, for a total transaction of $15,618,683.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 163,428 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,097,637.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 101,704 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.57, for a total value of $15,618,683.28. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 163,428 shares in the company, valued at $25,097,637.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 3,865 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.60, for a total transaction of $620,719.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,908,891.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 279,063 shares of company stock worth $43,187,745. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PG. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $165.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $156.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.53.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE PG opened at $158.14 on Monday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $141.45 and a 1 year high of $163.14. The stock has a market cap of $372.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $159.14 and a 200 day moving average of $153.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.43 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 33.77%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This is a positive change from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.85%.

About Procter & Gamble

The Procter & Gamble Company provides branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. It 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, and SK-II brands.