Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Shares Up 1.5% – Still a Buy?

Procter & Gamble Company (The) (NYSE:PG) shot up 1.5% during mid-day trading on Monday. The stock traded as high as $164.36 and last traded at $163.9920. Approximately 9,685,882 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 0% from the average daily volume of 9,731,732 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.57.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PG has been the subject of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Procter & Gamble from $145.00 to $167.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $169.00 price target on shares of Procter & Gamble in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. DZ Bank lowered shares of Procter & Gamble from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, Evercore raised shares of Procter & Gamble from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $166.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.57.

Procter & Gamble Stock Up 1.5%

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $149.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $148.94. The firm has a market cap of $380.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.97 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.72 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 22nd. The company reported $2.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $23.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.80 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 31.02% and a net margin of 18.23%. The company’s revenue was up 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.99 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 23rd will be paid a $1.0885 dividend. This represents a $4.35 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 23rd. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.51%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Paul Gama sold 4,331 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.27, for a total value of $698,460.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 46,793 shares in the company, valued at $7,546,307.11. This represents a 8.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Marc S. Pritchard sold 4,030 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.79, for a total transaction of $579,473.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 187,001 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,888,873.79. The trade was a 2.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 58,647 shares of company stock worth $9,268,508. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,862,105,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth $3,850,628,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble during the second quarter worth $2,281,505,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,480,650,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 2nd quarter valued at $335,908,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG) is a global consumer products company that develops, manufactures and markets branded products used in households and personal care. Its portfolio includes personal health and grooming products, beauty and skin care items, baby, feminine and family care products, fabric and home care products, and oral care products.

The company’s well-known brands include Pampers, Tide, Gillette, Crest, Oral-B, Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Olay, Old Spice, Dawn, Febreze and Mr.