Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Acquires 400 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,498 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $6,321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 94,109 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,300,000 after buying an additional 4,035 shares during the period. Radnor Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the third quarter valued at about $5,705,000. Welch Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.9% in the third quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 323,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,094,000 after acquiring an additional 2,990 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 7,005,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,213,403,000 after purchasing an additional 39,000 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 67.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 26,803 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,420,000 after purchasing an additional 10,777 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on PG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays downgraded Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In related news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 37,240 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $44,508,763.93. This trade represents a 12.38 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 1,992 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $338,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,783 shares in the company, valued at $2,343,110. The trade was a 12.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 72,473 shares of company stock worth $12,313,697 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:PG opened at $177.40 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $417.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.74. The Procter & Gamble Company has a twelve month low of $142.50 and a twelve month high of $178.82.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. Analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.31%.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

The Procter & Gamble Company engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. The company 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, SK-II, and Native brands.