Procter & Gamble Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:PG)

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 32,103 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 38% compared to the typical daily volume of 23,211 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Dbs Bank lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays cut Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 30th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Procter & Gamble in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $189.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised 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. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total transaction of $2,163,072.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,954,538.34. The trade was a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total transaction of $76,149.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,043.84. This trade represents a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 313,597 shares of company stock worth $53,268,499. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in PG. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 19,030.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,693,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $639,730,000 after acquiring an additional 3,674,286 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 16,292.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 3,675,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $606,230,000 after purchasing an additional 3,653,477 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 7.0% during the 3rd 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 period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $301,950,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in Procter & Gamble by 416.1% in 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 period. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock opened at $169.54 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $170.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.36. Procter & Gamble has a 52-week low of $142.50 and a 52-week high of $177.94. The firm has a market cap of $399.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 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.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. Procter & Gamble’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Procter & Gamble will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid 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 2.37%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.48%.

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.