Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Down 0.3% – Here’s Why

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) fell 0.3% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $169.51 and last traded at $170.22. 1,228,192 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 6,648,247 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.76.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on PG. Barclays downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Hsbc Global Res raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Dbs Bank lowered Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $177.00.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 1.0 %

The company has a market cap of $406.67 billion, a PE ratio of 29.77, a PEG ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $170.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.54. 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 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 69.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 87,979 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.40, for a total transaction of $14,991,621.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 300,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,252,400.80. This trade represents a 22.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 160,693 shares of company stock worth $27,311,345. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PG. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in Procter & Gamble during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the second quarter worth $36,000. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

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.