DA Davidson Reiterates Neutral Rating for Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG)

DA Davidson reissued their neutral rating on shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $160.00 target price on the stock.

PG has been the topic of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $189.00 target price on the stock. Barclays cut shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.00.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE PG opened at $176.26 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $415.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.39, a PEG ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $170.04 and its 200 day moving average is $168.62. Procter & Gamble has a 52 week low of $142.50 and a 52 week high of $177.94. 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 released its 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. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The firm had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Procter & Gamble will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 69.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $108,826.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,319,882.65. This trade represents a 3.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Andre Schulten sold 13,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $2,216,970.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 37,208 shares in the company, valued at $6,325,360. This represents a 25.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 160,693 shares of company stock worth $27,311,345. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 19,030.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,693,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,730,000 after acquiring an additional 3,674,286 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 16,292.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 3,675,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $606,230,000 after buying an additional 3,653,477 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 7.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,538,327,000 after buying an additional 3,619,466 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the third quarter worth about $301,950,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 416.1% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,818,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,016,000 after acquiring an additional 1,466,115 shares during the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Procter & Gamble

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.