R. Alexandra Keith Sells 855 Shares of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Stock

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 855 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.50, for a total transaction of $135,517.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,004 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $634,634. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

R. Alexandra Keith also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 4th, R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of Procter & Gamble stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total transaction of $122,693.36.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

PG opened at $161.50 on Wednesday. The Procter & Gamble Company has a 52-week low of $141.45 and a 52-week high of $163.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $380.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $159.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $153.26.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 19th. The company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $20.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.43 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.77% and a net margin of 18.00%. Procter & Gamble’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.37 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Procter & Gamble Company will post 6.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. This is a positive change from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Procter & Gamble

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 9.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 35,608,913 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,193,916,000 after buying an additional 3,047,557 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 29,313,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,275,616,000 after purchasing an additional 670,862 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,956,117,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,209,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,336,552,000 after purchasing an additional 206,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Procter & Gamble by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 11,170,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,629,299,000 after purchasing an additional 346,925 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PG has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $169.00 to $162.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.88.

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.