Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Up 2.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s share price shot up 2.1% during mid-day trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $188.00 to $190.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Procter & Gamble traded as high as $176.49 and last traded at $176.45. 2,250,734 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 6,650,751 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.75.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on PG. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays cut shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, DZ Bank raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.00.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In other news, CFO Andre Schulten sold 13,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was 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 owns 37,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,325,360. This represents a 25.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total transaction of $108,826.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,319,882.65. This represents a 3.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 160,693 shares of company stock valued at $27,311,345 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its position in Procter & Gamble by 2.1% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 62,524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,829,000 after acquiring an additional 1,297 shares during the last quarter. Tudor Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the third quarter worth about $1,373,000. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 5.7% during the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 4,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $695,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Procter & Gamble in the third quarter valued at $1,632,000. Finally, Invst LLC grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.7% during the third quarter. Invst LLC now owns 15,889 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,752,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $415.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $170.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is 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.