Procter & Gamble Co. shares fell more than 2.5 percent on Thursday after Deutsche Bank Securities slashed its rating on the stock on slowing sales of beauty products.

P&G fell $1.71, or 2.47 percent to close at $67.56 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Analyst Bill Schmitz Jr. dropped stock to Hold from Buy noting that the stock had shown robust growth during the tenure of current Chief Executive Alan Lafley but added that the consumer goods industry was slowing.

To be sure, this is more an industry call than a P&G specific one, but as P&G goes, so does the group, Schmitz wrote in a note to clients.

Schmitz lowered his price target for the stock to $74 from $76.

Cosmetics firm L'Oreal SA reported its slowest sales in three years this week.

``Short-term industry growth, especially in beauty, is slowing, creating a sales and gross-margin squeeze,'' he stated. ``P&G does not operate in a vacuum, and the global beauty industry is becoming more competitive.''