River Street Advisors LLC Buys 265 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

River Street Advisors LLC grew its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,659 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 265 shares during the quarter. River Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $1,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,608,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,193,916,000 after purchasing an additional 3,047,557 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,956,117,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,209,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,552,000 after purchasing an additional 206,165 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,170,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,629,299,000 after purchasing an additional 346,925 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,556,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,547,021,000 after purchasing an additional 559,358 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total transaction of $4,581,309.81. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,858,265.43. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 855 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.50, for a total transaction of $135,517.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $634,634. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total value of $4,581,309.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,507 shares in the company, valued at $1,858,265.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 154,544 shares of company stock worth $25,413,051 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $187.00 price target for the company. Barclays upped their price target on Procter & Gamble from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Argus upped their price target on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.72.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

PG traded down $1.70 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $164.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,253,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,088,934. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 52 week low of $141.45 and a 52 week high of $169.41. The company’s 50-day moving average is $165.60 and its 200-day moving average is $158.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $389.23 billion, a PE ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.42.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.91% and a net margin of 18.00%. The business had revenue of $20.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th were given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This is a boost from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.85%.

Procter & Gamble Profile

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.