The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Shares Purchased by Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. boosted its stake in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG - Free Report) by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 265,564 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 8,856 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.'s holdings in Procter & Gamble were worth $45,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PG. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on PG. Dbs Bank lowered Procter & Gamble from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Hsbc Global Res raised Procter & Gamble to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. DZ Bank raised Procter & Gamble from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, DA Davidson raised Procter & Gamble from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $160.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Monday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of PG stock traded up $1.92 on Tuesday, reaching $179.31. 6,276,721 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,743,191. The stock has a market cap of $422.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $170.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.83. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 1-year low of $142.50 and a 1-year high of $179.46.

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

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $2,210,944.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,002,804.35. This represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total transaction of $108,826.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,341 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,319,882.65. This trade represents a 3.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 72,473 shares of company stock worth $12,313,697 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is 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.