Great Lakes Advisors LLC Sells 31,197 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 8.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 336,752 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,197 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $55,537,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gilbert & Cook Inc. raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 17,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,523,000 after purchasing an additional 1,237 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 84,360 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,341,000 after purchasing an additional 6,390 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 33,946 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,975,000 after purchasing an additional 15,203 shares in the last quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc raised its stake in Procter & Gamble by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Berger Financial Group Inc now owns 7,556 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,107,000 after buying an additional 925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Calton & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 98.7% during the fourth quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 3,713 shares of the company’s stock worth $544,000 after acquiring an additional 1,844 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

PG stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Friday, hitting $175.59. The stock had a trading volume of 5,785,684 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,591,211. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $168.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $164.65. The Procter & Gamble Company has a twelve month low of $141.45 and a twelve month high of $177.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $414.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.71% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The firm had revenue of $20.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. Procter & Gamble’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, July 19th were issued a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on PG shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. DZ Bank upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Dbs Bank cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $175.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $16,320,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,332,570. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 96,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $16,320,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,332,570. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total value of $1,458,045.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,902,451.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 375,553 shares of company stock worth $63,829,141. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.