Key Points
Procter & Gamble is home to lots of trusted brands.
It pays a dividend that recently yielded 2.6%.
The payout is still growing.
If you're going to invest in dividend-paying companies -- which is a very sensible thing to do -- you might want to focus on companies that have been paying, and increasing, their dividends for a very long time. Companies with such long records will be reluctant to break their streaks. A fine company to consider is consumer products giant Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), which recently yielded 2.6%.
In October, Procter & Gamble declared its latest dividend, noting that "P&G has been paying a dividend for 136 consecutive years since its incorporation in 1890 and has increased its dividend for 70 consecutive years. This reinforces our commitment to return cash to shareowners, many of whom rely on the steady, reliable income earned with their investment in P&G."
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Here's a look at why you might want to invest in P&G -- or why you might not want to.
Why buy Procter & Gamble stock?
Here are reasons to be a P&G fan:
- It has a super-strong portfolio of valuable brands, such as Always, Ambi Pur, Ariel, Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Dawn, Downy, Fairy, Febreze, Gain, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Lenor, Olay, Oral-B, Pampers, Pantene, SK-II, Tide, Vicks, and Whisper.
- Its dividend is still growing at a respectable clip, averaging annual gains of 4.6% over the past five years and nearly 5% over the past decade.
- That 70-year streak of dividend increases is rather remarkable, considering it goes back to the 1950s and spans multiple crashes and recessions, when many companies shrank or suspended their payouts.
- It has recently been gaining market share in China, which bodes well for its top and bottom lines.
Why pass on Procter & Gamble?
Of course, investing in P&G is not a no-brainer decision. Consider that:
- Ongoing inflation can provide a headwind, as can unfavorable currency translations. (P&G is a very global company, generating about half of its revenue abroad, largely in Europe.)
- Shares are not exactly bargain-priced at recent levels, though they are rather reasonably priced, with a recent forward-looking price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 24. That's a mite above the five-year average of 23.
- The stock is not likely to grow very fast. Its average annual gain over the past decade is 9% -- though it's up 20% year to date.
I alluded earlier to a key reason why you might want to invest in Procter & Gamble sooner rather than later: It's a steady performer when the economy sinks. (After all, people will still buy shampoos and diapers, whether the economy is booming or busting.) If you're worried about a looming stock market crash, this would be a solid portfolio holding with which to weather one.
Selena Maranjian has positions in Procter & Gamble. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.