Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Acquires 705 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 9.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,863 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 705 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $1,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 64.7% during the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Vima LLC bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 1.6 %

PG opened at $174.22 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $411.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.73. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $170.21 and its 200 day moving average is $165.78. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.69 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.46% and a net margin of 17.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th were issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $163.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, June 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $187.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 96,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $16,320,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,721 shares in the company, valued at $2,332,570. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 96,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $16,320,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,332,570. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 37,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.89, for a total transaction of $6,289,463.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 263,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,508,763.93. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 375,553 shares of company stock valued at $63,829,141 in the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.