The Procter & Gamble Company Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.01 (NYSE:PG)

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 14th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a dividend of 1.0065 per share on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th.

Procter & Gamble has raised its dividend by an average of 5.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 36 years. Procter & Gamble has a dividend payout ratio of 54.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Procter & Gamble to earn $7.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.03 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.8%.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Procter & Gamble stock opened at $161.77 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $169.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Procter & Gamble has a twelve month low of $146.28 and a twelve month high of $180.43. The stock has a market cap of $380.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.63 and a beta of 0.45.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. 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. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $196.00 to $189.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $190.00 to $176.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $186.00 to $181.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.65.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction of $8,604,804.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 39,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,189,463.68. The trade was a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 12,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.99, for a total transaction of $2,163,072.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,954,538.34. This trade represents a 52.53 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 73,447 shares of company stock valued at $12,978,820. Company insiders own 0.18% 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.