DA Davidson Reaffirms Buy Rating for Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG)

DA Davidson reissued their buy rating on shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) in a research note published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $209.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Barclays decreased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $163.00 to $155.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $167.00 to $161.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $190.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Monday, October 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen 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 $180.25.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Procter & Gamble stock opened at $166.20 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $391.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.69 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $168.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.76. Procter & Gamble has a 1 year low of $152.06 and a 1 year high of $180.43.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 32.88%. The business had revenue of $21.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21,657,595.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Procter & Gamble will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th will be given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 64.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.73, for a total transaction of $2,210,944.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,595 shares in the company, valued at $2,002,804.35. This represents a 52.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total transaction of $8,604,804.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,189,463.68. The trade was a 54.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 19,030.8% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,693,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $639,730,000 after purchasing an additional 3,674,286 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 buying an additional 3,619,466 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 3rd quarter valued at about $301,950,000. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 416.1% during the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 1,818,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $315,016,000 after purchasing an additional 1,466,115 shares during the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.