Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Reaches New 1-Year High at $172.21

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $172.21 and last traded at $172.19, with a volume of 260382 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $171.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PG. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group cut Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $175.79.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $415.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $167.87 and its 200 day moving average is $164.45.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.69 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.71% and a return on equity of 33.46%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, July 19th were paid a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 19th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 65.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 3,373 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 21,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,657,210. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 37,240 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.89, for a total value of $6,289,463.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 263,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,508,763.93. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 3,373 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $573,410.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 21,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,657,210. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 375,553 shares of company stock valued at $63,829,141. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Creekside Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $637,000. Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the second quarter worth $2,003,000. Centennial Bank AR increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 4.6% during the second quarter. Centennial Bank AR now owns 2,435 shares of the company’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,782,000. Finally, RiverFront Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 26,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,351,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares in 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.