Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Shares Up 0.4%

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s stock price traded up 0.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $162.55 and last traded at $162.32. 1,161,291 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 6,857,157 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.66.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PG has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Procter & Gamble from $169.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.76.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.97. The firm has a market cap of $385.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.43.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $20.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.43 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 33.91%. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. This is a positive change from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total transaction of $5,049,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 9,739 shares in the company, valued at $1,586,483.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total value of $5,049,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 9,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,586,483.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total transaction of $4,581,309.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,858,265.43. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 86,865 shares of company stock valued at $14,059,180. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PG. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,608,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,193,916,000 after buying an additional 3,047,557 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 2.3% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,313,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,275,616,000 after purchasing an additional 670,862 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,956,117,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,209,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,336,552,000 after buying an additional 206,165 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,170,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,629,299,000 after purchasing an additional 346,925 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

The Procter & Gamble Company provides branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. It 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, and SK-II brands.