Halpern Financial Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Halpern Financial Inc. lowered its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 12.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,461 shares of the company’s stock after selling 210 shares during the quarter. Halpern Financial Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $251,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in PG. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Procter & Gamble by 64.7% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in Procter & Gamble in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of PG traded down $1.24 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $168.88. 6,003,668 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,670,893. The company has a market cap of $398.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $166.48. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12-month low of $141.45 and a 12-month high of $177.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted 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 return on equity of 33.46% and a net margin of 17.71%. The company had revenue of $20.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 19th were paid a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 19th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 65.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. BNP Paribas started coverage on Procter & Gamble in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $187.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.89.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total value of $1,458,045.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,902,451.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $108,826.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,319,882.65. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 383,194 shares of company stock valued at $65,140,718. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.