Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Down 0.5% – Time to Sell?

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s stock price traded down 0.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $166.83 and last traded at $168.37. 1,363,526 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 6,638,698 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.30.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $161.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. DZ Bank raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.00.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $389.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $167.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 3,373 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $573,410.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 21,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,657,210. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 11,566 shares in the company, valued at $1,954,538.34. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 3,373 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $573,410.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 21,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,657,210. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 389,144 shares of company stock valued at $66,184,385 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PG. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,567,556,000 after buying an additional 122,190 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted 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 acquiring an additional 733,440 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 9.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,161,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,705,000 after purchasing an additional 545,601 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.3% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,008,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $974,914,000 after purchasing an additional 79,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 3.9% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,706,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $941,066,000 after purchasing an additional 216,300 shares during the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.