Royal Bank of Canada Raises Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) Price Target to $164.00

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) had its price target upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $157.00 to $164.00 in a report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on PG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $171.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $177.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. TD Cowen started coverage on Procter & Gamble in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a buy rating and a $189.00 price objective for the company. Argus boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $174.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Procter & Gamble has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $173.95.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

PG opened at $170.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $401.41 billion, a PE ratio of 27.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.60 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $166.28 and a 200-day moving average of $162.13. Procter & Gamble has a 52-week low of $141.45 and a 52-week high of $170.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.73.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.69 billion. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 33.33% and a net margin of 17.71%. The firm’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.37 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Procter & Gamble will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 19th will be paid a $1.0065 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 19th. This represents a $4.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. Procter & Gamble’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar G. Raman sold 31,924 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.95, for a total transaction of $5,329,711.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 19,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,179,061.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Procter & Gamble news, insider Moses Victor Javier Aguilar sold 9,149 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.72, for a total value of $1,534,470.28. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,929 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,168,451.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar G. Raman sold 31,924 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.95, for a total value of $5,329,711.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 19,042 shares in the company, valued at $3,179,061.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 94,320 shares of company stock worth $15,646,323 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Procter & Gamble in the 4th quarter worth $3,956,117,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,209,425 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,336,552,000 after acquiring an additional 206,165 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 10,556,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,547,021,000 after acquiring an additional 559,358 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,571,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,402,636,000 after acquiring an additional 246,323 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in Procter & Gamble by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 9,492,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,390,963,000 after acquiring an additional 1,387,539 shares in the last quarter. 65.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Procter & Gamble Company Profile

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.