Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Stock Price Up 0.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) traded up 0.8% during mid-day trading on Monday after DA Davidson upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. DA Davidson now has a $209.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $160.00. Procter & Gamble traded as high as $178.82 and last traded at $177.76. 1,954,169 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 6,668,916 shares. The stock had previously closed at $176.28.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on PG. Wolfe Research raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Dbs Bank lowered Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 30th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total transaction of $108,826.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,341 shares in the company, valued at $3,319,882.65. This represents a 3.17 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 37,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.89, for a total value of $6,289,463.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 263,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,508,763.93. This trade represents a 12.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 72,473 shares of company stock valued at $12,313,697. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the second quarter valued at $29,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the third quarter worth $33,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth about $36,000. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.8 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $170.04 and a 200-day moving average of $168.66. The firm has a market cap of $418.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS 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 $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.48%.

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.