Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Shares Down 0.7% – Time to Sell?

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) dropped 0.7% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $166.71 and last traded at $166.88. Approximately 952,649 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 6,730,623 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.06.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on PG. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley upped 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. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. DZ Bank raised Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 target price on the stock. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 0.5 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $169.82. 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 capitalization of $397.86 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.44.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 analyst estimates of $21.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total value of $2,163,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,954,538.34. This trade represents 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 634 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $108,826.10. Following the sale, the insider now owns 19,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,319,882.65. The trade was a 3.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 83,080 shares of company stock worth $14,629,038 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth about $29,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter valued at about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

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.