Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Stock Price Up 0.5% – Here’s What Happened

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s share price traded up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $180.43 and last traded at $180.28. 1,438,216 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 6,719,552 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on PG. StockNews.com cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. 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 report on Thursday, August 29th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, DA Davidson upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $209.00 in a research note on Monday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Trading Down 0.3 %

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 market cap of $421.06 billion, a PE ratio of 31.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $170.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $168.83.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.96 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 69.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total transaction of $108,826.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,319,882.65. This represents a 3.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $2,210,944.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,002,804.35. This trade represents a 52.47 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 35,233 shares of company stock worth $6,024,234. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 4.5% during the third quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 94,109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,300,000 after acquiring an additional 4,035 shares during the period. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 3rd quarter worth about $5,705,000. Welch Group LLC grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 323,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,094,000 after buying an additional 2,990 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 7,005,790 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,213,403,000 after buying an additional 39,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 67.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 26,803 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,420,000 after acquiring an additional 10,777 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

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.