Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Down 1.4%

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s stock price traded down 1.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $171.21 and last traded at $171.50. 1,735,882 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 6,522,707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on PG shares. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $189.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $187.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $176.16.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.73. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $169.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $165.55. The company has a market cap of $404.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.41.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.69 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.71% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, July 19th were issued a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 19th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total transaction of $1,458,045.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,902,451.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total transaction of $1,458,045.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,537 shares in the company, valued at $1,902,451.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 72,174 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.01, for a total value of $12,342,475.74. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 263,158 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,002,649.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 375,553 shares of company stock worth $63,829,141. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC acquired a new position in Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Procter & Gamble by 64.7% during the first quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. 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.