Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading 0.4% Higher – Time to Buy?

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) were up 0.4% on Friday . The company traded as high as $166.35 and last traded at $165.86. 752,278 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 6,624,185 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.18.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on PG shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped 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. StockNews.com cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Dbs Bank cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 target price for the company. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price objective for the company 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.00.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $388.82 billion, a PE ratio of 28.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $171.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $167.99.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The company 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%. The firm’s revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total value of $76,149.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 13,072 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,212,043.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related 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 transaction of $573,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 21,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,657,210. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total value of $76,149.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 13,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,043.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 389,144 shares of company stock worth $66,184,385. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,567,556,000 after purchasing an additional 122,190 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 8.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 733,440 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,161,507 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,705,000 after acquiring an additional 545,601 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 6,008,938 shares of the company’s stock worth $974,914,000 after acquiring an additional 79,665 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,706,199 shares of the company’s stock worth $941,066,000 after acquiring an additional 216,300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

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.