Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading 0.4% Higher After Dividend Announcement

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s share price was up 0.4% on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $169.80 and last traded at $168.88. Approximately 3,077,321 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 54% from the average daily volume of 6,654,809 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.16.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 65.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Dbs Bank cut Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Citigroup boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $175.89.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $171.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $166.63. The firm has a market cap of $398.58 billion, a PE ratio of 27.59, a PEG ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 0.41.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the previous year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total value of $1,458,045.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,537 shares in the company, valued at $1,902,451.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total transaction of $1,458,045.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,902,451.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of Procter & Gamble 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,319,882.65. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 383,194 shares of company stock worth $65,140,718. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PG. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 64.7% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

About Procter & Gamble

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.