Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Purchases 103,839 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 14.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 818,430 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 103,839 shares during the period. Procter & Gamble makes up approximately 2.9% of Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $124,188,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PG. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. Axiom Financial Strategies LLC now owns 1,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $276,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,461 shares of the company’s stock worth $529,000 after acquiring an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 5.7% during the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 18,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,842,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Ergoteles LLC purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the first quarter valued at $3,073,000. Finally, Wsfs Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 12.0% during the first quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC now owns 4,256 shares of the company’s stock valued at $650,000 after buying an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. 63.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, CAO Matthew W. Janzaruk sold 33,022 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.26, for a total value of $5,160,017.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $138,758.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 8,387 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.87, for a total value of $1,315,668.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,908.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Matthew W. Janzaruk sold 33,022 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.26, for a total value of $5,160,017.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 888 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $138,758.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 106,607 shares of company stock worth $16,523,793 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.4 %

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $154.05 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.63. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $153.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $150.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $363.14 billion, a PE ratio of 26.11, a PEG ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.42. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 52 week low of $122.18 and a 52 week high of $158.38.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 28th. The company reported $1.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $20.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.01 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 32.88% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.21 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 21st were paid a $0.9407 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 20th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is presently 63.73%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $173.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Barclays lifted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $160.00 to $166.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $164.00 to $172.00 in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $161.00 in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $164.82.

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.