Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Shares Down 1% – Here’s Why

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) fell 1% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $170.43 and last traded at $172.12. 1,599,552 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 6,692,492 shares. The stock had previously closed at $173.82.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on PG. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wolfe Research raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned 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 Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $170.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $169.44. The stock has a market cap of $405.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.68 and a beta of 0.44. 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 (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The business’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.83 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 69.48%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total value 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 7,007 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $1,202,751.55. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 269,172 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,203,373.80. This represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 83,080 shares of company stock worth $14,629,038 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,619,466 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.7% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the 2nd 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 4.7% in the third 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 period. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.