PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. $67 (New York symbol PG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.8 billion; Market cap: $187.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pg.com) has raised its quarterly dividend by 7.0%, to $0.562 a share from $0.525. The new annual rate of $2.25 yields 3.4%. Procter has paid dividends for 122 straight years, and has raised the payout each year for past 56 years.
Rising fuel and raw material costs continue to squeeze the company’s profit margins. In response, Procter has announced that it will cut jobs and spend less on advertising its household and personal-care products.
These moves should save it $10 billion over the next four years. To put this figure in context, Procter earned $4.7 billion, or $1.60 a share, in the six months ended December 31, 2011.
Procter & Gamble is a buy.