The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Receives $169.76 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $169.76.

PG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $168.00 price target for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE PG opened at $163.38 on Friday. Procter & Gamble has a one year low of $141.45 and a one year high of $164.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.69 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $153.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $385.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.70, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.44.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $20.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.43 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.91% and a net margin of 18.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Procter & Gamble will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This is a boost from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is presently 65.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total value of $5,049,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,586,483.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 28,369 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.49, for a total value of $4,581,309.81. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,858,265.43. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total value of $5,049,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,586,483.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 86,865 shares of company stock valued at $14,059,180. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dfpg Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC now owns 24,892 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,680,000 after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Garrett Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,419 shares of the company’s stock valued at $645,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. now owns 26,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,897,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC now owns 94,424 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,772,000 after purchasing an additional 12,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,003,260 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,298,184,000 after purchasing an additional 131,339 shares during the last quarter. 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.