Insider Selling: The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) CEO Sells 21,388 Shares of Stock

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 21,388 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.98, for a total value of $3,528,592.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,080,172.92. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Procter & Gamble Stock Down 0.4 %

Procter & Gamble stock traded down $0.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $165.09. The company had a trading volume of 2,635,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,847,687. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 12 month low of $141.45 and a 12 month high of $166.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $160.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $154.49. The company has a market capitalization of $389.63 billion, a PE ratio of 27.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 33.91%. The firm had revenue of $20.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a $1.0065 dividend. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. This is an increase from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.69%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of PG. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Procter & Gamble by 9.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,608,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,193,916,000 after purchasing an additional 3,047,557 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,313,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,275,616,000 after buying an additional 670,862 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble in the fourth quarter worth $3,956,117,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,209,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,336,552,000 after acquiring an additional 206,165 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,170,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,629,299,000 after purchasing an additional 346,925 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $171.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $175.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Procter & Gamble from $169.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $169.76.

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.