Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Monday, June 24th. They issued an outperform rating and a $187.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on Procter & Gamble in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a neutral rating and a $168.00 target price on the stock. Truist Financial raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the company from $160.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $170.72.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 1.0 %

PG stock opened at $164.93 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $165.60 and a 200 day moving average of $158.73. Procter & Gamble has a twelve month low of $141.45 and a twelve month high of $169.41. The firm has a market cap of $389.26 billion, a PE ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.42.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.43 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 33.91%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.37 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Procter & Gamble will post 6.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 19th were paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This is a boost from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is presently 65.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Moses Victor Javier Aguilar sold 9,149 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.72, for a total value of $1,534,470.28. Following the sale, the insider now owns 12,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,451.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Moses Victor Javier Aguilar sold 9,149 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.72, for a total transaction of $1,534,470.28. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,929 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,168,451.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 855 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.50, for a total value of $135,517.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $634,634. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 154,544 shares of company stock valued at $25,413,051. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter valued at $3,956,117,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 106.2% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 6,134,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $898,943,000 after acquiring an additional 3,159,796 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 9.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,608,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,193,916,000 after acquiring an additional 3,047,557 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 13,850.3% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,747,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $402,601,000 after acquiring an additional 2,727,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 235.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,231,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $473,475,000 after purchasing an additional 2,268,805 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

About Procter & Gamble

The Procter & Gamble Company provides branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. It 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, and SK-II brands.