Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Down 0% – Time to Sell?

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s stock price was down 0% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $167.35 and last traded at $169.03. Approximately 1,404,281 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 6,661,686 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.08.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $160.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Eight research 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $400.10 billion, a PE ratio of 29.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $170.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $169.74. 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 announced its earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The company had revenue of $21.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.83 earnings per share. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was down .6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 7,007 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $1,202,751.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 269,172 shares in the company, valued at approximately $46,203,373.80. This trade represents a 2.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Susan Street Whaley sold 634 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.65, for a total value of $108,826.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,341 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,319,882.65. The trade was a 3.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 83,080 shares of company stock valued at $14,629,038 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. 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 buying an additional 3,619,466 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 2.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,599,554,000 after acquiring an additional 689,282 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,567,556,000 after purchasing an additional 122,190 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Procter & Gamble by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 18,988,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,290,573,000 after buying an additional 1,760,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Procter & Gamble by 4.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,380,610 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,183,522,000 after buying an additional 830,476 shares during the period. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.