Brokerages Set The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Price Target at $180.45

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $180.45.

PG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $174.00 to $191.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $209.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Friday, December 27th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays cut shares of 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. 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 Monday, October 21st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total transaction of $8,604,804.48. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,189,463.68. The trade was a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total transaction of $2,163,072.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 75,439 shares of company stock valued at $13,317,460. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 19,030.8% in the third 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 period. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 16,292.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 3,675,902 shares of the company’s stock worth $606,230,000 after acquiring an additional 3,653,477 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 7.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,538,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,619,466 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 10.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,988,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,290,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,760,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 3rd quarter worth $301,950,000. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

Shares of PG stock opened at $165.13 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $170.21 and its 200 day moving average is $169.83. 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 firm has a market cap of $388.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.47, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.45. Procter & Gamble has a 52-week low of $146.28 and a 52-week high of $180.43.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.83 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Procter & Gamble will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Procter & Gamble’s payout ratio is currently 69.31%.

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.