Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Procter & Gamble Call Options (NYSE:PG)

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 32,103 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 38% compared to the average daily volume of 23,211 call options.

Procter & Gamble Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE PG opened at $169.54 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $170.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $168.36. Procter & Gamble has a 52-week low of $142.50 and a 52-week high of $177.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $399.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a PEG ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 0.42.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion for 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 business’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Procter & Gamble will post 6.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total value of $2,163,072.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 11,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,954,538.34. This trade represents a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 1,992 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.00, for a total value of $338,640.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,783 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,343,110. This represents a 12.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 313,597 shares of company stock worth $53,268,499. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PG. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the third quarter worth approximately $33,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC bought a new position in Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PG has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. 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. Wolfe Research raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $177.00.

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.