Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY Reduces Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY decreased its position in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 9.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 2,132 shares of the company’s stock after selling 212 shares during the quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $346,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PG. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.6% during the third quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 9,063 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,322,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 15,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,273,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 124,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,172,000 after purchasing an additional 10,651 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 20.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 403,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,922,000 after purchasing an additional 69,964 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $11,730,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.50, for a total transaction of $135,517.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $634,634. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 855 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.50, for a total transaction of $135,517.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $634,634. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total transaction of $4,581,309.81. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,858,265.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 154,544 shares of company stock valued at $25,413,051 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock opened at $166.62 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1 year low of $141.45 and a 1 year high of $169.41. The company has a market capitalization of $393.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $165.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $158.54.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $20.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.43 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.91% and a net margin of 18.00%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th were paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 18th. This is a boost from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Procter & Gamble in a report on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $187.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $168.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.72.

About Procter & Gamble

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.