Abner Herrman & Brock LLC Sells 4,586 Shares of Procter & Gamble Company (The) $PG

Abner Herrman & Brock LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble Company (The) (NYSE:PG) by 20.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,104 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,586 shares during the quarter. Abner Herrman & Brock LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $2,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 234,630,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,050,992,000 after acquiring an additional 1,419,322 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 100,634,824 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,462,541,000 after purchasing an additional 370,872 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth approximately $5,099,644,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 8.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 22,850,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,510,955,000 after buying an additional 1,752,481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.7% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 17,385,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,770,035,000 after buying an additional 294,673 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Procter & Gamble news, Chairman Jon R. Moeller sold 162,232 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.45, for a total value of $26,354,588.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 319,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,884,093.25. This represents a 33.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 36,093 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.33, for a total transaction of $5,858,976.69. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 34,994 shares in the company, valued at $5,680,576.02. This trade represents a 50.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 348,618 shares of company stock valued at $55,462,643 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on PG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $177.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $156.00 to $179.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $157.00 to $165.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.33.

Procter & Gamble Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock opened at $144.41 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $154.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $150.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Procter & Gamble Company has a 12-month low of $137.62 and a 12-month high of $174.80. The company has a market cap of $335.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.39, a PEG ratio of 4.84 and a beta of 0.37.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.36 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 32.21% and a net margin of 19.30%.The firm’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 23rd were issued a $1.0568 dividend. This represents a $4.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 23rd. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.67%.

About Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is a multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble, P&G has grown into one of the world’s largest producers of branded consumer packaged goods. The company focuses on developing, manufacturing and marketing a broad portfolio of household and personal care products sold to consumers and retailers worldwide.

P&G’s product offering spans several core business categories, including Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric & Home Care, and Baby, Feminine & Family Care.