Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Down 0.5% – Should You Sell?

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s share price traded down 0.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $168.38 and last traded at $169.68. 1,335,636 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 6,890,263 shares. The stock had previously closed at $170.56.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

PG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Erste Group Bank upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $173.00 to $172.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $182.00.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 5.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $383.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $169.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.29.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.01%.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

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

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,244,463,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,010,685,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,538,327,000 after purchasing an additional 3,619,466 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1,195.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 3,222,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $580,596,000 after purchasing an additional 2,973,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,398,120 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,240,294,000 after acquiring an additional 2,846,560 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

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.