Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Stock

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) had its price target hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $188.00 to $190.00 in a report published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on PG. StockNews.com lowered Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $160.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.6 %

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $177.40 on Friday. Procter & Gamble has a 12 month low of $142.50 and a 12 month high of $178.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $417.78 billion, a PE ratio of 30.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.74.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Procter & Gamble will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.31%.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 37,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.89, for a total transaction of $6,289,463.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 263,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,508,763.93. This represents a 12.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total value of $2,163,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 11,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,954,538.34. This trade represents a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 72,473 shares of company stock worth $12,313,697. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PG. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 19,030.8% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,693,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,730,000 after acquiring an additional 3,674,286 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 16,292.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 3,675,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,230,000 after purchasing an additional 3,653,477 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 7.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,538,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,619,466 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the third quarter worth approximately $301,950,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 416.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,818,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,016,000 after buying an additional 1,466,115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

About Procter & Gamble

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.