The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Short Interest Down 13.9% in December

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,760,000 shares, a decrease of 13.9% from the November 30th total of 20,620,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,840,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total transaction of $8,604,804.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,977 shares in the company, valued at $7,189,463.68. This represents a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 7,007 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $1,202,751.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 269,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $46,203,373.80. The trade was a 2.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 83,080 shares of company stock valued at $14,629,038. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acorn Creek Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.8% during the third quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 2,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.1% during the third quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 5,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $963,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Traveka Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.7% during the third quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 3,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,699 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,507,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 605 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Hsbc Global Res raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $209.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Friday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock traded down $0.23 on Tuesday, reaching $166.86. The stock had a trading volume of 938,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,683,677. The stock has a market capitalization of $392.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.44. Procter & Gamble has a 1 year low of $146.28 and a 1 year high of $180.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $170.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.88.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Procter & Gamble will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.31%.

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.