Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Shares Down 0.2% – Here’s What Happened

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s share price was down 0.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $169.02 and last traded at $169.98. Approximately 1,036,995 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 6,657,775 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on PG shares. Wolfe Research raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $160.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Procter & Gamble from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded 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. Eight investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $170.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $169.75. The stock has a market cap of $398.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.18, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.44. 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 released its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.83 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total value of $8,604,804.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,977 shares in the company, valued at $7,189,463.68. The trade was a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $2,210,944.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,002,804.35. This represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 83,080 shares of company stock valued at $14,629,038. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PG. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings 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 valued at $639,730,000 after acquiring an additional 3,674,286 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 16,292.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 3,675,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $606,230,000 after buying an additional 3,653,477 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,988,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,290,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the third quarter worth about $301,950,000. Hedge funds and other 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.