PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. $79 (New York symbol PG; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 2.7 billion; Market cap: $213.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pg.com) recently raised its quarterly dividend by 7.0%, to $0.6015 a share from $0.562. The new annual rate of $2.41 yields 3.1%. Procter has increased its payout every year for the past 57 years.
Procter & Gamble is a buy.