Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Up 0.7% on Analyst Upgrade

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s stock price rose 0.7% during trading on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $159.00 to $165.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Procter & Gamble traded as high as $168.87 and last traded at $167.77. Approximately 1,653,278 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 6,465,882 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.58.

PG has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $173.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Monday, February 10th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $209.00 price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.82.

Insider Activity

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 35,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $173.68, for a total value of $6,078,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 22,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,829,817.68. This trade represents a 61.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 172,814 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,313,845.76. The trade was a 34.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 143,450 shares of company stock worth $23,988,008 over the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in PG. Howard Capital Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 1.0% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 8,327 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,442,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 14.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,734,588 shares of the company’s stock worth $820,031,000 after purchasing an additional 608,168 shares during the last quarter. United Bank lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 13,367 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,315,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the third quarter worth $824,000. Finally, Cynosure Group LLC purchased a new position in Procter & Gamble in the third quarter valued at $328,000. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.41. The company has a market capitalization of $393.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.74, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.00% and a net margin of 18.35%. The firm had revenue of $21.88 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.66 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.01%.

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.