Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Upgraded at DA Davidson

DA Davidson upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $209.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $160.00.

PG has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

Shares of PG stock opened at $177.40 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $417.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $170.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.74. Procter & Gamble has a one year low of $142.50 and a one year high of $178.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.25% and a net margin of 17.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.31%.

Insider Activity at Procter & Gamble

In related news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 1,992 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 12.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 37,240 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.89, for a total value of $6,289,463.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 263,537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,508,763.93. The trade was a 12.38 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 72,473 shares of company stock valued at $12,313,697. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of PG. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,599,554,000 after acquiring an additional 689,282 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 122,190 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 4.7% in the 3rd 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. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,422,470 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,844,442,000 after purchasing an additional 105,734 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

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.