Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Down 0.5% – What’s Next?

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s stock price fell 0.5% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $178.28 and last traded at $178.43. 879,919 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 6,711,996 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.36.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $174.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Monday, October 21st. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded 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 two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $422.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $170.37 and its 200-day moving average is $168.98.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. Analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is presently 69.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total value of $2,210,944.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,595 shares in the company, valued at $2,002,804.35. This represents a 52.47 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $108,826.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,341 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,319,882.65. This represents a 3.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 35,233 shares of company stock worth $6,024,234 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 7.0% in 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,599,554,000 after acquiring an additional 689,282 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,567,556,000 after acquiring an additional 122,190 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,988,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,290,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,760,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,380,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,183,522,000 after purchasing an additional 830,476 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.