Searle & CO. Purchases 57,635 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Searle & CO. lifted its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 192.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,585 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,635 shares during the quarter. Procter & Gamble makes up 3.5% of Searle & CO.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Searle & CO.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $12,835,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Dfpg Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC now owns 24,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,680,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 6.3% in the third quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. now owns 26,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,897,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 14.6% during the third quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 94,424 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,772,000 after purchasing an additional 12,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,003,260 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,298,184,000 after purchasing an additional 131,339 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of PG stock traded up $0.20 on Wednesday, reaching $163.40. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,542,542 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,949,875. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $159.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.91. The company has a market capitalization of $385.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.44. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $141.45 and a 1 year high of $164.32.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.43 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.91% and a net margin of 18.00%. The company’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This is a boost from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on PG. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $169.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $156.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.76.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In other news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total transaction of $5,049,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,586,483.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total transaction of $5,049,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,586,483.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 transaction, the insider now owns 11,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,858,265.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 86,865 shares of company stock worth $14,059,180. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Procter & Gamble Company 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.