Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,747,160 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,572 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $795,861,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 416.1% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,818,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,016,000 after acquiring an additional 1,466,115 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its position in Procter & Gamble by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,503,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $260,432,000 after buying an additional 56,583 shares in the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.0% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,327 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,442,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the period. Meridiem Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the third quarter valued at about $398,000. Finally, First Bancorp Inc ME boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 8.4% in the third quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME now owns 9,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,707,000 after buying an additional 763 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Barclays raised their price target on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $209.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.53.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PG opened at $162.84 on Monday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12 month low of $153.52 and a 12 month high of $180.43. The stock has a market cap of $381.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.93, a PEG ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $166.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 EPS 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 return on equity of 33.00% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $2,210,944.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,595 shares in the company, valued at $2,002,804.35. The trade was a 52.47 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 172,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,313,845.76. This represents a 34.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 151,097 shares of company stock worth $25,635,076. 0.18% of the stock is owned by 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.