Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Stock Price Down 4.8% - Should You Sell?

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 4.8% on Monday . The company traded as low as $162.30 and last traded at $162.84. 13,171,287 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 85% from the average session volume of 7,117,588 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.02.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $176.00 to $180.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $159.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $209.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Procter & Gamble from $161.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $180.53.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $399.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.86 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $21.88 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.66 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 18.35% and a return on equity of 33.00%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were paid a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. Procter & Gamble's payout ratio is currently 64.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Procter & Gamble

In other news, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 90,450 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.84, for a total transaction of $14,819,328.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 172,814 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,313,845.76. This represents a 34.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $8,604,804.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 39,977 shares in the company, valued at $7,189,463.68. This represents a 54.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter valued at $5,244,463,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the fourth quarter valued at $1,010,685,000. 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 purchasing an additional 3,619,466 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its position in Procter & Gamble by 1,195.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 3,222,585 shares of the company's stock valued at $580,596,000 after buying an additional 2,973,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Procter & Gamble by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,398,120 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,240,294,000 after buying an additional 2,846,560 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company's stock.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

Procter & Gamble Co engages in the provision of branded consumer packaged goods. It operates through the following segments: Beauty, Grooming, Health Care, Fabric and Home Care, and Baby, Feminine and Family Care. The Beauty segment offers hair, skin, and personal care. The Grooming segment consists of shave care like female and male blades and razors, pre and post shave products, and appliances.