Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in Procter & Gamble Company (The) (NYSE:PG)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Procter & Gamble Company (The) (NYSE:PG) by 3.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,789 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 615 shares during the quarter. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $3,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PG. Balefire LLC lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 31.5% during the 1st quarter. Balefire LLC now owns 2,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 546 shares in the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,755 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,344,000 after buying an additional 1,943 shares in the last quarter. Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Oak Hill Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 36,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053 shares in the last quarter. Flavin Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Flavin Financial Services Inc. now owns 12,418 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,116,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nova R Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Nova R Wealth Inc. now owns 1,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $286,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on PG. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $185.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $190.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $190.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $164.00 to $177.00 in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $181.00 to $172.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.45.

Procter & Gamble Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE PG opened at $158.73 on Friday. Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $156.58 and a 1 year high of $180.43. The stock has a market cap of $372.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.69 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $162.65 and a 200 day moving average of $165.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.50.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by $0.01. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.46% and a return on equity of 32.67%. The company had revenue of $19.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.52 EPS. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, April 21st were given a dividend of $1.0568 per share. This is a boost from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. This represents a $4.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 21st. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.14%.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Jennifer L. Davis sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.38, for a total transaction of $161,380.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 51,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,386,111.70. This trade represents a 1.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Moses Victor Javier Aguilar sold 10,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.67, for a total transaction of $1,669,208.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 25,182 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,995,627.94. This represents a 29.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.