Norway Savings Bank Purchases 312 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Norway Savings Bank raised its position in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 1.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,464 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 312 shares during the quarter. Procter & Gamble comprises 1.7% of Norway Savings Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Norway Savings Bank’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $3,105,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 96,526.4% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,535,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,840,449,000 after purchasing an additional 38,495,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,752,321,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 42.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,386,838 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,626,080,000 after purchasing an additional 7,235,990 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 12.6% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 44,320,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,717,246,000 after purchasing an additional 4,959,527 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 43.9% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 9,462,510 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,434,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,888,007 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 63.43% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,629 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.19, for a total value of $1,985,152.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,051,486.69. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,629 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.19, for a total value of $1,985,152.51. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,051,486.69. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 781 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $152.82, for a total transaction of $119,352.42. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 6,310 shares in the company, valued at $964,294.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 106,607 shares of company stock valued at $16,523,793. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.4 %

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $154.05 on Tuesday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a twelve month low of $122.18 and a twelve month high of $158.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $153.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $150.37. The company has a market capitalization of $363.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The company reported $1.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 32.88%. The firm had revenue of $20.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.21 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.38 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, July 21st were issued a $0.9407 dividend. This represents a $3.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 20th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 63.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on PG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $164.00 to $172.00 in a report on Friday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $161.00 in a report on Monday, July 31st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.82.

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.