Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Stock Price Up 1.6%

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shot up 1.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $174.31 and last traded at $174.26. 2,433,151 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 63% from the average session volume of 6,548,262 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.54.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. DZ Bank upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $175.79.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $414.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.83, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $167.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $164.45.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.46% and a net margin of 17.71%. The firm had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 19th were given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 96,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $16,320,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,332,570. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 96,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $16,320,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,332,570. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were 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 $2,212,043.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 375,553 shares of company stock worth $63,829,141 in the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PG. Advantage Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Procter & Gamble in the second quarter worth $29,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC bought a new position in Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. 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.