Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $183.55 Million Stock Holdings in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG - Free Report) by 13.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,059,739 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 126,865 shares during the quarter. Procter & Gamble makes up approximately 0.7% of Retirement Systems of Alabama's investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Retirement Systems of Alabama's holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $183,547,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,538,327,000 after buying an additional 3,619,466 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company's stock worth $4,599,554,000 after acquiring an additional 689,282 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,567,556,000 after purchasing an additional 122,190 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 10.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,988,721 shares of the company's stock worth $3,290,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760,214 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,380,610 shares of the company's stock worth $3,183,522,000 after purchasing an additional 830,476 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $163.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded Procter & Gamble from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $160.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of NYSE PG traded up $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $171.08. 3,884,004 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,686,880. The Procter & Gamble Company has a twelve month low of $142.50 and a twelve month high of $180.43. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $402.90 billion, a PE ratio of 29.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.44.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. Procter & Gamble's payout ratio is 69.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total transaction of $2,163,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,954,538.34. This trade represents a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 1,992 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,783 shares in the company, valued at $2,343,110. This trade represents a 12.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 83,080 shares of company stock valued at $14,629,038. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Procter & Gamble 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.