Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Up 0.6% – Here’s Why

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) traded up 0.6% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $171.88 and last traded at $171.75. 1,083,288 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 6,693,672 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.79.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Hsbc Global Res raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, DA Davidson raised Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $209.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.7 %

The company has a market capitalization of $405.14 billion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.44. 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 50-day moving average of $170.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $169.44.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. Procter & Gamble’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.48%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 7,007 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $1,202,751.55. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 269,172 shares in the company, valued at $46,203,373.80. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $108,826.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,341 shares in the company, valued at $3,319,882.65. The trade was a 3.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 83,080 shares of company stock worth $14,629,038 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PG. DGS Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the third quarter worth approximately $267,000. Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the third quarter worth approximately $668,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 13.6% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 1,059,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,547,000 after acquiring an additional 126,865 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,760,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.3% during the third quarter. Asset Advisors Investment Management LLC now owns 50,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,814,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.