Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms Sector Perform Rating for Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG)

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their sector perform rating on shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $164.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Procter & Gamble from $181.00 to $172.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.50.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 1.2 %

PG opened at $167.76 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $168.25 and a 200-day moving average of $168.45. Procter & Gamble has a fifty-two week low of $156.69 and a fifty-two week high of $180.43. The company has a market capitalization of $393.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.43.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 33.00%. The firm had revenue of $21.88 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Procter & Gamble will post 6.91 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 21st will be given a $1.0568 dividend. This represents a $4.23 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 21st. This is a positive change from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 67.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 172,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,313,845.76. The trade was a 34.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.68, for a total transaction of $6,078,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 22,051 shares in the company, valued at $3,829,817.68. This represents a 61.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,450 shares of company stock valued at $23,988,008 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,794,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,524,976,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,061 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 56,472,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,457,000,000 after buying an additional 1,267,419 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,244,463,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,395,208 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,928,107,000 after acquiring an additional 2,703,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 20,197,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,386,194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,209,275 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble Co engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods. It operates through the following segments: Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric and Home Care, and Baby, Feminine and Family Care. The Beauty segment offers hair, skin, and personal care. The Grooming segment consists of shave care like female and male blades and razors, pre and post shave products, and appliances.