Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading 0.1% Higher – Time to Buy?

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s stock price was up 0.1% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $166.69 and last traded at $166.03. Approximately 1,048,062 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 6,637,907 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.84.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on PG. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $159.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $189.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.00.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

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 stock has a market cap of $391.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.59 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.29.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.48%.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In related news, CFO Andre Schulten sold 13,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $2,216,970.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,208 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,325,360. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Procter & Gamble news, CFO Andre Schulten sold 13,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $2,216,970.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,208 shares in the company, valued at $6,325,360. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 13,072 shares in the company, valued at $2,212,043.84. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 313,597 shares of company stock valued at $53,268,499. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,599,554,000 after acquiring an additional 689,282 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,567,556,000 after acquiring an additional 122,190 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,380,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,183,522,000 after acquiring an additional 830,476 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,422,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,844,442,000 after acquiring an additional 105,734 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,691,925 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,598,510,000 after purchasing an additional 733,440 shares during the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.