Merriman Wealth Management LLC Sells 69 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Merriman Wealth Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 0.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,304 shares of the company’s stock after selling 69 shares during the quarter. Merriman Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $1,205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 64.7% in the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Vima LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on PG. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $189.00 target price for the company. Dbs Bank cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.16.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of PG opened at $174.22 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $170.21 and its 200-day moving average is $165.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $411.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47, a PEG ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.41. The Procter & Gamble Company has a fifty-two week low of $141.45 and a fifty-two week high of $177.94.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.69 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.71% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 19th were given a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 19th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is presently 65.69%.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 37,240 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.89, for a total value of $6,289,463.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 263,537 shares in the company, valued at $44,508,763.93. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 37,240 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.89, for a total value of $6,289,463.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 263,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,508,763.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total transaction of $1,458,045.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,902,451.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 375,553 shares of company stock worth $63,829,141. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.