Procter & Gamble’s (PG) “Sector Perform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their sector perform rating on shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $164.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Dbs Bank downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays cut shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.00.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

NYSE:PG opened at $169.56 on Monday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $171.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.33. Procter & Gamble has a 1-year low of $142.50 and a 1-year high of $177.94. The firm has a market cap of $400.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.41.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.71% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Procter & Gamble will post 6.97 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.69%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total value of $76,149.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,212,043.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total transaction of $76,149.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 13,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,212,043.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,902,451.30. This trade represents 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 valued at $65,140,718. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PG. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.