The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-one analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $175.89.

PG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Procter & Gamble from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $182.00 to $175.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Dbs Bank lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com cut Procter & Gamble from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $179.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:PG opened at $173.96 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $170.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $165.88. The company has a market capitalization of $410.57 billion, a PE ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.84 and a beta of 0.41. Procter & Gamble has a 1-year low of $141.45 and a 1-year high of $177.94.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.69 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.71% and a return on equity of 33.46%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Procter & Gamble will post 6.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, July 19th were paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 19th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Procter & Gamble's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In related news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total transaction of $1,458,045.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,902,451.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Balaji Purushothaman sold 8,842 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.90, for a total transaction of $1,458,045.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,902,451.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jon R. Moeller sold 72,174 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.01, for a total transaction of $12,342,475.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 263,158 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $45,002,649.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 375,553 shares of company stock worth $63,829,141 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PG. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Procter & Gamble by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 21,632,054 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,567,556,000 after buying an additional 122,190 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,552,081 shares of the company's stock worth $1,546,302,000 after purchasing an additional 554,451 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,691,925 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,598,510,000 after purchasing an additional 733,440 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in Procter & Gamble by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 6,987,508 shares of the company's stock worth $1,023,949,000 after purchasing an additional 223,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Procter & Gamble by 9.7% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,161,507 shares of the company's stock valued at $999,705,000 after buying an additional 545,601 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.