DA Davidson Begins Coverage on Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG)

DA Davidson began coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $159.00 target price on the stock.

PG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Procter & Gamble from a buy rating to a hold rating and cut their price target for the company from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $157.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Procter & Gamble from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $190.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $175.05.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of PG stock opened at $171.09 on Wednesday. Procter & Gamble has a 52 week low of $141.66 and a 52 week high of $177.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $403.80 billion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.73. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $171.48 and its 200-day moving average is $166.74.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.71% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The firm had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Procter & Gamble will post 6.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th will be given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is 65.69%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total transaction of $76,149.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 13,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,043.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total transaction of $76,149.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,212,043.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ma. Fatima Francisco sold 96,000 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $16,320,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,721 shares in the company, valued at $2,332,570. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 383,194 shares of company stock worth $65,140,718. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 16,292.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 3,675,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $606,230,000 after purchasing an additional 3,653,477 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 114.9% during the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,568,671 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,017,000 after buying an additional 1,907,716 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 416.1% during the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,818,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,016,000 after buying an additional 1,466,115 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Procter & Gamble in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $233,788,000. Finally, Ilex Capital Partners UK LLP acquired a new position in Procter & Gamble in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $228,212,000. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.