Procter & Gamble’s (PG) Neutral Rating Reiterated at DA Davidson

DA Davidson reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $160.00 price target on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Dbs Bank cut Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. DZ Bank raised Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com lowered Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Monday, October 21st. Nine equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.00.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock opened at $176.26 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $168.62. The stock has a market cap of $415.10 billion, a PE ratio of 30.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Procter & Gamble has a 12 month low of $142.50 and a 12 month high of $177.94.

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

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andre Schulten sold 13,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $2,216,970.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,325,360. The trade was a 25.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $108,826.10. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,319,882.65. This represents a 3.17 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 160,693 shares of company stock valued at $27,311,345. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,538,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,619,466 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 during the period. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,567,556,000 after acquiring an additional 122,190 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Procter & Gamble by 4.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,380,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,183,522,000 after acquiring an additional 830,476 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,422,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,844,442,000 after purchasing an additional 105,734 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.