Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Trading Down 1.2% After Insider Selling

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) traded down 1.2% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $177.28 and last traded at $177.58. 1,689,675 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 6,698,413 shares. The stock had previously closed at $179.70.

Specifically, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 47,847 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 directly owns 39,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,189,463.68. This represents a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson raised Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $160.00 to $209.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $163.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $188.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Procter & Gamble to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.45.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $170.48 and its 200-day moving average is $169.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $417.22 billion, a PE ratio of 30.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.44.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 18th. The company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.03. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 33.25%. The business had revenue of $21.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $21.99 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.83 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.27%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.48%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 7.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 55,204,776 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,538,327,000 after acquiring an additional 3,619,466 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 26,556,319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,599,554,000 after purchasing an additional 689,282 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,567,556,000 after buying an additional 122,190 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 10.2% in 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 stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 4.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,380,610 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,183,522,000 after buying an additional 830,476 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.