** Procter & Gamble PG.N shares down nearly 2% late afternoon on Wed, easing along with other consumer staples stocks, with PG set to report quarterly results before the opening bell on Thurs

** PG and other staples stocks were also bucking the broader trend in the market, with the S&P 500 .SPX last up 1.5% and the S&P consumer staples index .SPLRCS down 0.8%

** Analysts on an average expect quarterly rev for PG of $20.105 bln, down vs $20.195 bln a yr ago, and they expect EPS of $1.53/shr vs $1.52 a yr ago, according to LSEG

** Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Procter & Gamble has been identified as the subject of an EU antitrust regulators' investigation initiated last month that had also targeted Coca-Cola bottlers

** Analyst recommendations on PG include 18 "strong buy" or "buy" ratings and 11 "hold" ratings

** The median PT on PG is $185; the stock was last at $165.04

** PG options imply a 3.7% swing for the shares, in either direction, by Fri; that compares with a 2.5% avg move for the shares on the day of results, over the last eight qtrs, according to Trade Alert

** The stock has been outperforming the broader market this yr so far, down 1.7% YTD compared with a roughly 7% fall in the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI in that period

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed)

((caroline.valetkevitch@thomsonreuters.com))