Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Stock Price Up 0.5% After Dividend Announcement

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s share price rose 0.5% on Wednesday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $157.49 and last traded at $157.46. Approximately 1,910,016 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 6,776,711 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.66.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be issued a dividend of $1.0065 per share. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th. This is a boost from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PG has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $168.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $169.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Procter & Gamble from $156.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.35.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 0.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $369.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.44. The business’s 50-day moving average is $159.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $152.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $21.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.48 billion. Procter & Gamble had a net margin of 17.60% and a return on equity of 34.04%. Procter & Gamble’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.59 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total value of $122,693.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,256.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Procter & Gamble news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total value of $122,693.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,859 shares in the company, valued at approximately $768,256.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 101,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $153.57, for a total transaction of $15,618,683.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 163,428 shares in the company, valued at $25,097,637.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 279,063 shares of company stock worth $43,187,745. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 96,526.4% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 38,535,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,840,449,000 after acquiring an additional 38,495,676 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,956,117,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 44,320,700 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,717,246,000 after acquiring an additional 4,959,527 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 20,619,426 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,021,573,000 after acquiring an additional 4,426,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Procter & Gamble by 118.1% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 6,334,342 shares of the company’s stock worth $961,170,000 after acquiring an additional 3,429,929 shares during the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.