Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Shares Down 3.1% – Time to Sell?

Procter & Gamble Company (The) (NYSE:PG) shares fell 3.1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $146.46 and last traded at $146.7120. 9,976,945 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 10% from the average session volume of 11,047,775 shares. The stock had previously closed at $151.48.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on PG shares. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $156.00 to $179.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Procter & Gamble from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $157.00 to $165.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Procter & Gamble from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, TD Cowen downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $150.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.33.

Procter & Gamble Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $153.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.89. The stock has a market cap of $340.96 billion, a PE ratio of 21.74, a PEG ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 0.37.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.36 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 19.30% and a return on equity of 32.21%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 23rd were given a dividend of $1.0568 per share. This represents a $4.23 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 23rd. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Jon R. Moeller sold 162,232 shares of Procter & Gamble stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.45, for a total transaction of $26,354,588.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman directly owned 319,385 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,884,093.25. This trade represents a 33.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 95,903 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.15, for a total value of $14,495,738.45. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 182,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,601,048.05. This represents a 34.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 348,618 shares of company stock valued at $55,462,643 in the last 90 days. 0.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 237,459,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,030,358,000 after acquiring an additional 2,829,151 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 101,618,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,563,008,000 after purchasing an additional 984,102 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 62,647,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,962,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,556 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,664,783,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,612,826 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,243,815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,091 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is a multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble, P&G has grown into one of the world’s largest producers of branded consumer packaged goods. The company focuses on developing, manufacturing and marketing a broad portfolio of household and personal care products sold to consumers and retailers worldwide.

P&G’s product offering spans several core business categories, including Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric & Home Care, and Baby, Feminine & Family Care.