Allianz SE Takes $17.83 Million Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Allianz SE bought a new position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 106,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,827,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of PG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,794,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,524,976,000 after buying an additional 1,592,061 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,538,327,000 after acquiring an additional 3,619,466 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,244,463,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 10.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,988,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,290,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,692,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,133,850,000 after purchasing an additional 312,203 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $209.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Erste Group Bank raised Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.82.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

Shares of PG opened at $167.94 on Friday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a one year low of $153.52 and a one year high of $180.43. The business has a fifty day moving average of $168.60 and a 200 day moving average of $169.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $393.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.74, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were given a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 64.01%.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In other news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 18,000 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.66, for a total transaction of $3,089,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 22,051 shares in the company, valued at $3,785,274.66. This trade represents a 44.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,313,845.76. The trade was a 34.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,450 shares of company stock valued at $23,988,008 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.