Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Down 0.7% on Insider Selling

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shares were down 0.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $171.23 and last traded at $171.38. Approximately 1,454,472 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 7,187,160 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.65.

Specifically, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.66, for a total transaction of $3,089,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 22,051 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,785,274.66. The trade was a 44.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.42.

Procter & Gamble Trading Down 0.6 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $166.07 and a 200 day moving average of $169.46. The firm has a market cap of $402.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $21.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.66 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.00% and a net margin of 18.35%. Procter & Gamble’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.01%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PG. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,794,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,524,976,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592,061 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 56,472,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,457,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267,419 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,244,463,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,395,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,928,107,000 after purchasing an additional 2,703,757 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in Procter & Gamble by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,599,554,000 after buying an additional 689,282 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

About Procter & Gamble

Procter & Gamble Co engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods. It operates through the following segments: Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric and Home Care, and Baby, Feminine and Family Care. The Beauty segment offers hair, skin, and personal care. The Grooming segment consists of shave care like female and male blades and razors, pre and post shave products, and appliances.