The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $1.01

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 9th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of 1.0065 per share on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $4.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 18th. This is a boost from Procter & Gamble’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94.

Procter & Gamble has increased its dividend by an average of 6.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 68 years. Procter & Gamble has a dividend payout ratio of 54.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Procter & Gamble to earn $6.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.3%.

Procter & Gamble Stock Performance

NYSE:PG opened at $155.95 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Procter & Gamble has a 1-year low of $141.45 and a 1-year high of $163.14. The business has a 50 day moving average of $159.20 and a 200 day moving average of $152.77. The company has a market capitalization of $366.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.12, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.44.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $1.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.14. Procter & Gamble had a return on equity of 34.04% and a net margin of 17.60%. The firm had revenue of $21.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.48 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Procter & Gamble will post 6.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Procter & Gamble

In other news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total value of $122,693.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,256.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO R. Alexandra Keith sold 776 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.11, for a total value of $122,693.36. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 4,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $768,256.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gary A. Coombe sold 22,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $161.32, for a total value of $3,549,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 36,845 shares in the company, valued at $5,943,835.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 279,063 shares of company stock valued at $43,187,745. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $235,000. Aspect Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 242.9% during the 4th quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 5,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $757,000 after purchasing an additional 3,660 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in Procter & Gamble by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 497,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,933,000 after purchasing an additional 84,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mango Five Family Inc. bought a new stake in Procter & Gamble during the 4th quarter valued at $940,000. 65.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on PG shares. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Procter & Gamble from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $155.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com cut Procter & Gamble from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $172.00 to $178.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Procter & Gamble from $162.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.53.

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.