Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Up 0.4% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) were up 0.4% on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $179.00 to $186.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Procter & Gamble traded as high as $172.66 and last traded at $172.27. Approximately 2,721,033 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average daily volume of 6,540,039 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.54.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research note on Monday, June 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $187.00 price objective on the stock. DZ Bank raised Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wolfe Research upgraded Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Dbs Bank cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price 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. Seven 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $176.16.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total value of $1,458,045.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,902,451.30. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 3,373 shares of Procter & Gamble 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 21,513 shares in the company, valued at $3,657,210. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total transaction of $1,458,045.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 11,537 shares in the company, valued at $1,902,451.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 375,553 shares of company stock worth $63,829,141. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Transcendent Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 64.7% during the 1st quarter. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. now owns 196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the second quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 1.6 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $170.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $165.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $411.18 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th were given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.69%.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

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.