ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Cuts Stock Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 141,126 shares of the company’s stock after selling 704 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $20,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dfpg Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC now owns 24,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,680,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 94,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after purchasing an additional 12,016 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,003,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,298,184,000 after purchasing an additional 131,339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its position in Procter & Gamble by 105.5% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 59,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,699,000 after acquiring an additional 30,473 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Procter & Gamble from $156.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays raised their price target on Procter & Gamble from $165.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.53.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of PG traded up $0.73 on Friday, reaching $158.02. The stock had a trading volume of 12,028,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,932,996. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12-month low of $141.45 and a 12-month high of $163.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $371.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $159.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.92.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted 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. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 34.04% and a net margin of 17.60%. The company had revenue of $20.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a $1.0065 dividend. This is a positive change from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.34%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total value of $122,693.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,256.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total value of $122,693.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 4,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,256.49. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 22,000 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.32, for a total value of $3,549,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,943,835.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 279,063 shares of company stock valued at $43,187,745. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.