TD Cowen Begins Coverage on Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG)

TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) in a research note published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $189.00 price objective on the stock.

PG has been the subject of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $174.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $174.29.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $169.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $399.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $166.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $161.51. Procter & Gamble has a 12-month low of $141.45 and a 12-month high of $170.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 19th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.85%.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In other news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total transaction of $5,049,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,739 shares in the company, valued at $1,586,483.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Procter & Gamble news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.90, for a total transaction of $5,049,900.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 9,739 shares in the company, valued at $1,586,483.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar G. Raman sold 31,924 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.95, for a total transaction of $5,329,711.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,042 shares in the company, valued at $3,179,061.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 125,320 shares of company stock worth $20,696,223 over the last ninety days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,956,117,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,209,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,552,000 after purchasing an additional 206,165 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,556,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,547,021,000 after purchasing an additional 559,358 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,571,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,402,636,000 after purchasing an additional 246,323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,492,039 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,390,963,000 after purchasing an additional 1,387,539 shares during the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.