Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Given New $179.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) had its price objective reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $181.00 to $179.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Monday, June 24th. They set an outperform rating and a $187.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded Procter & Gamble from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus lifted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Procter & Gamble from a buy rating to a hold rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $182.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $173.95.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

NYSE PG opened at $170.08 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $166.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $162.13. Procter & Gamble has a 12-month low of $141.45 and a 12-month high of $170.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $401.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.79, a PEG ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.41.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.71% and a return on equity of 33.33%. The business had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.37 EPS. Procter & Gamble’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Procter & Gamble will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be paid a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 19th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Procter & Gamble news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,859 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total value of $5,253,549.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 9,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,605,961.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Procter & Gamble news, COO Shailesh Jejurikar sold 31,859 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total value of $5,253,549.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 9,739 shares in the company, valued at $1,605,961.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 21,388 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.98, for a total value of $3,528,592.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 36,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,080,172.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 94,320 shares of company stock valued at $15,646,323 over the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Procter & Gamble

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PG. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 77.8% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,266,278 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,037,000 after acquiring an additional 553,952 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Corp raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 4.5% during the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 78,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,980,000 after acquiring an additional 3,358 shares in the last quarter. Nottingham Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 98.9% during the second quarter. Nottingham Advisors Inc. now owns 6,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $992,000 after acquiring an additional 2,990 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 31.1% during the second quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,092,000 after acquiring an additional 3,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 57.4% during the second quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 3,679 shares of the company’s stock valued at $607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,342 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

About Procter & Gamble

The Procter & Gamble Company provides branded consumer packaged goods worldwide. It 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, and SK-II brands.