The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Receives $177.00 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, thirteen have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $177.00.

PG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In other news, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 450 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.22, for a total value of $76,149.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,212,043.84. The trade was a 3.33 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Andre Schulten sold 13,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total transaction of $2,216,970.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,208 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,325,360. The trade was a 25.95 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 313,597 shares of company stock valued at $53,268,499. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 2.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,599,554,000 after buying an additional 689,282 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,567,556,000 after purchasing an additional 122,190 shares in the last quarter. 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,422,470 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,844,442,000 after purchasing an additional 105,734 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 14,049,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,433,400,000 after buying an additional 426,409 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock opened at $169.57 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $170.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.27. Procter & Gamble has a 12-month low of $142.50 and a 12-month high of $177.94. The firm has a market cap of $399.34 billion, a PE ratio of 29.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 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 (NYSE:PG) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.83 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Procter & Gamble will post 6.94 EPS for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.48%.

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.