Procter & Gamble Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:PG)

Procter & Gamble Company (The) (NYSE:PG) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 42,085 call options on the company. This is an increase of 30% compared to the average volume of 32,301 call options.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 36,093 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.33, for a total transaction of $5,858,976.69. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 34,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,680,576.02. This trade represents a 50.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.00, for a total value of $1,264,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,571 shares in the company, valued at $1,038,218. This trade represents a 54.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 252,715 shares of company stock valued at $40,966,904. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 237,459,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,030,358,000 after purchasing an additional 2,829,151 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 101,618,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,563,008,000 after purchasing an additional 984,102 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 62,647,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,962,689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,974,556 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter valued at $4,664,783,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,612,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,243,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,091 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Procter & Gamble

Here are the key news stories impacting Procter & Gamble this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q3 earnings beat and solid sales growth — P&G reported adjusted EPS above estimates and quarterly net sales up ~7% year-over-year, which helped lift the stock. P&G earnings beat (CNBC)
• Positive Sentiment: First volume growth in a year and demand for premium beauty products — management cited strength in beauty and recovering household volumes, signaling improving underlying demand. Volume growth and beauty strength (Invezz)
• Positive Sentiment: Company reaffirmed full-year FY26 guidance — management maintained its FY26 EPS range, which reassured investors that the beat is not being followed by a downward revision to guidance. Press release and guidance (BusinessWire)
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand and innovation recognition — P&G was named #1 in Household Products on Fortune’s Most Innovative Companies list, a longer‑term positive for brand strength but not an immediate earnings driver. Fortune innovation ranking (Yahoo Finance)
• Negative Sentiment: Near-term cost headwind from Middle East conflict — P&G flagged an estimated ~$150M hit to annual profit from higher input and logistics costs tied to the Iran/Middle East situation. Input cost hit (Reuters)
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst target trims and pressure on valuation — several firms have lowered price targets or adjusted estimates (BNP Paribas, BofA, others), reflecting concerns about higher resin/input costs and modest guidance positioning. Analyst target adjustments (MarketScreener)

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

NYSE:PG traded up $3.69 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $149.40. 6,274,110 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,963,843. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $150.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $347.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.14, a PEG ratio of 5.50 and a beta of 0.41. Procter & Gamble has a 1-year low of $137.62 and a 1-year high of $170.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 24th. The company reported $1.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.56 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $21.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.52 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 32.21% and a net margin of 19.30%.Procter & Gamble’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. Procter & Gamble has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.830-7.090 EPS. Research analysts expect that Procter & Gamble will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 24th will be paid a $1.0885 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 24th. This represents a $4.35 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. This is an increase from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on PG. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Procter & Gamble from $150.00 to $142.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Barclays lowered their price target on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $146.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $158.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Raymond James Financial lowered their target price on Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $167.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $162.37.

About Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is a multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble, P&G has grown into one of the world’s largest producers of branded consumer packaged goods. The company focuses on developing, manufacturing and marketing a broad portfolio of household and personal care products sold to consumers and retailers worldwide.

P&G’s product offering spans several core business categories, including Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric & Home Care, and Baby, Feminine & Family Care.