Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Stock Price Up 0.4% – Should You Buy?

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) rose 0.4% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $176.23 and last traded at $175.77. Approximately 1,113,768 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 6,702,682 shares. The stock had previously closed at $175.11.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays downgraded Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 30th. DZ Bank upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $190.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, August 29th. DA Davidson upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $160.00 to $209.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Procter & Gamble has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 1.2 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $170.75 and a 200 day moving average of $169.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $409.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.77 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Procter & Gamble’s quarterly revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 11,566 shares in the company, valued at $1,954,538.34. The trade was a 52.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total value of $8,604,804.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 39,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,189,463.68. The trade was a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 83,080 shares of company stock worth $14,629,038. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acorn Creek Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.8% in the third quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 2,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.1% in the third quarter. Patrick M Sweeney & Associates Inc. now owns 5,561 shares of the company’s stock worth $963,000 after buying an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 4.1% in the second quarter. Hudson Value Partners LLC now owns 1,516 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.7% in the third quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 3,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.7% in the third quarter. Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,507,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by 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.