Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Grows Stock Position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 9.3% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,969 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 846 shares during the quarter. Procter & Gamble accounts for 0.8% of Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $1,644,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of PG. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,956,117,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Procter & Gamble by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,552,081 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,546,302,000 after acquiring an additional 554,451 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,571,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,402,636,000 after acquiring an additional 246,323 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 6,987,508 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,023,949,000 after acquiring an additional 223,798 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 9.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,161,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,705,000 after purchasing an additional 545,601 shares during the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total transaction of $1,458,045.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,537 shares in the company, valued at $1,902,451.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider now owns 11,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,902,451.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total transaction of $76,149.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,212,043.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 375,553 shares of company stock valued at $63,829,141. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

PG stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Thursday, reaching $176.09. 243,274 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,561,903. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $167.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $164.45. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 52-week low of $141.45 and a 52-week high of $176.51. The company has a market cap of $415.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.75, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on PG shares. Dbs Bank cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $181.00 to $179.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.79.

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.