I like my stocks to be predictable. And one of the most predictable stocks I own, at least as far as the dividend is concerned, is Procter & Gamble, the big consumer products company.
P&G operates in 80 countries and is famous for brands such as Pampers, Tide, Crest, Charmin, Duracell and dozens of others. Last year the company generated sales of $82.6-billion and profit of $11.8-billion.
But what's really appealing about P&G is its dividend.
The company has been paying a dividend every year since 1890, and it has raised its dividend for 56 consecutive years.
That includes a 7-per-cent increase that was announced on April 13.
Here's a Bloomberg chart of P&G's annual dividend going back to 1992. Notice how the dividend has been rising steadily and predictably. In fact, it's grown about nine-fold over that time.
You can't control the prices at which your stocks trade. But if you buy a company like P&G, you can be pretty sure that you'll get a dividend increase every year.
John Heinzl