Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 1,689 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,251 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,689 shares during the quarter. Procter & Gamble comprises approximately 0.8% of Empirical Finance LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $14,246,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 4.5% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 94,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,300,000 after buying an additional 4,035 shares during the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $5,705,000. Welch Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 323,870 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,094,000 after purchasing an additional 2,990 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 67.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 26,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,420,000 after purchasing an additional 10,777 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quintet Private Bank Europe S.A. now owns 426,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,925,000 after purchasing an additional 55,620 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on PG shares. StockNews.com downgraded Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $189.00 price objective for the company. Hsbc Global Res raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 31,797 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 $5,380,688.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 300,777 shares in the company, valued at $50,897,483.94. This represents a 9.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total value of $2,163,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,954,538.34. The trade was a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 313,597 shares of company stock worth $53,268,499. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

PG opened at $167.12 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $170.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $168.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12-month low of $142.50 and a 12-month high of $177.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $393.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.42.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.48%.

About Procter & Gamble

The Procter & Gamble Company engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. The company 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, SK-II, and Native brands.