When quality stocks are invested in, it builds a portfolio of lasting wealth and longtime shareholders of Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) are aware of this very fact.  This company has paid dividends for 124 years, consistently and without fail.  In addition, the payouts have increased for more than half of those years.  It is vital to remember that these increases were in the past and smart investors need to focus on future growth.  With this in mind, there are a couple of things that P&G dividend investors need to know about the financial health of this giant company.

Yield is sacrificed for reliability

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) does not provide high yields, but this should not make a difference to long term investors as this is a steady growth company.  The average 65% payout ratio means that management should be able to continue generous payouts to investors for many future years.  Since dividends have increased for 58 years straight, it is clear that P&G puts their shareholders first.

During the fiscal year of 2014, the dividend increased by 7% and returned close to $7 billion in dividend payments back to the loyal shareholder over that same time period.  In addition, the management team of Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) spent close to $6 billion in repurchases which meant that shareholder returns totaled almost $13 billion in cash.

There is no need for investors to worry that Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) will burn through all their cash reserve because they currently generate over $80 billion sales every year.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) sells underperforming brand names

Recently, P&G said it plans to offload close to 100 non-core brands in an attempt to stimulate growth.  This is not to be a problem or concern for future earnings as the core brands account for approximately 90% of all the company’s revenue.  More importantly, the company does not plan on selling any of its core brands that each generates annual sales between 1 and 10 billion dollars.

They did agree to sell the Duracell brand battery to Berkshire Hathaway in exchange for the P&G stock that is currently owned by Berkshire Hathaway.  This is a positive move as it allows management to focus more on their core brands while at the same time provide some tax relief and benefits to the overall business.

This is all good news for long term investors of P&G because essentially they are putting more cash, and efforts into their best performing brands.  Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) is a winning and recommended investment and should continually reward their shareholders for many future years.

Today, Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) was 88.62 at the opening bell and at 9:40 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, it rose to 88.78.  The 52 week outlook ranges from 75.26 to 89.88 with a marketing cap of 239.76 billion and the company is currently 60% inst. own.

Lafley is well known for combating a severe sales slump during 2000-2009. It’s also because of him that P&G (NYSE:PG) bought Gillette and started turning the company into a major beauty contender. Lasley wants the whole operation to be simplified; too many brands are costing P&G (NYSE:PG). Lafley believes relieving P&G (NYSE:PG) of extra brands will boost their core sales performance.

The strategy employed by the CEO is risky but if it bears fruit, the company will prosper in the long run. It desperately needs smooth sales and a significant profit margin. If P&G (NYSE:PG) stumbles now, things could get even worse and Lafley might have to take severe measures to bring order.

Lafley returned to the company last year in May and instantly showed his dissatisfaction with the company’s 1 percent sales growth and 3 percent organic growth. Lafley is also known to be ruthless when it concerns the company’s performance. He fired thousands of employees, got rid of the pet care business and ordered a review on the factory operations. Lafley on many occasions has said that he’d get rid of any brand that would cause a lag in the operations of P&G (NYSE:PG). Apparently P&G (NYSE:PG) would be making $8 billion in revenue when they sell off the brands.

Lafley could be risking a lot here. The previous CEO was shown the exit door after a continuous slump in the company sales. If the strategy that is being employed by Lafley fails, it could mean the same for him. If not that, he could lose his goodwill.

Analysts claim that the revenue gained from the selloff would benefit P&G (NYSE:PG) in marketing and innovation. However, P&G (NYSE:PG) cannot afford to be distracted from its core operations. No matter what the circumstances are, if the core operations are interrupted, P&G (NYSE:PG) will have a lot to lose.

Lafley has already cut two operations: a Chinese battery firm and Puma perfume. It’s being said that heavier cuts will come to the surface in the coming months, especially those brands which have cost P&G (NYSE:PG) in one or another way.

Lafley turned the company into a beauty and razor contender back in 2000 when he took the helm of the company. Beauty products became the ace of spades for THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY (NYSE:PG). But since then, sales have slumped. Lafley acknowledged the fact that beauty products haven’t exactly been at their best. THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY (NYSE:PG) still is considered the best because of its lower costs, higher margins and a carefully fragmented market. It won’t really be a surprise if the company attains its lead once again.

August 18

Monday so far has been generally good for U.S. stock market; the Dow Industrials has jumped up by 1%. All this improvement owes itself to the receding Ukraine tension and equities being supported by an onset of mergers.

According to Russia even though there is no apparent progress on the ceasefire front along with a lack of any solid political solution after a dialogue involving Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany, but Ukraine humanitarian convoy issues have been dealt with.

There was still a lot of uncertainty followed by Ukrain’s accusation of Russian rebels attacking a refugee convoy on Monday; the convoy comprised of buses faced rocket fire. The convoy was somewhere near Luhansk; however separatists are yet to accept any responsibility for the incident.

Equities also saw a boost due to acquisitions and mergers happening frequently.

A major and much talk about offer for acquisition was made by Discount retailer Dollar General Corp (NYSE:DG) to Family Dollar Stores Inc (NYSE:FDO); the offer was made at a value of $8.95 billion, which is even more than Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ:DLTR)’s offer. As a result of this Family Dollar Stores Inc (NYSE:FDO)’s shares went up by 5.1% at a value of $79.91; Dollar General Corp (NYSE:DG) also leaped up by 9.8% at a value of $63.07. These two emerged S&P 500’s best performers. Retail index of S&P <.SPXRT> went up by 1%.

LibertyView Capital Management’s president Rick Meckler said that it appears people made up their minds about Ukrainian conflict over the weekend believing that tension to be receding. This shows in today’s market.

He believes this belief of receding tension is the major reason why the market is up; however he also believes that ongoing M&A activities and improvement in economy are also major factors in this stability in the market.

Housing stocks also performed well as according to index of NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market homebuilder sentiment in August jumped up to a value of 55; this is its peak since way back in January where it went up to 53. <.HGX> the PHLX Housing Sector Index jumped up by 1.3%.

Industrial average of the Dow Jones industrial <.DJI> jumped up 161.92 points by 0.97% reaching a value of 16,824.83 whereas 15.6 points were gained by the S&P 500 <.SPX> going up by 0.8% reaching a value of 1,970.66. NASDAQ Composite <.IXIC> also gained 38.32 points and jumped up by 0.86% reaching a value of 4,503.25.

Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG) is ready to make some changes as the company is currently reviewing its 100 brands that are not performing up to par. The company is getting advice from companies like Goldman Sachs Group that are its official advisors. Shares of P&G (NYSE:PG) also jumped up by 1% reaching a value of $82.64.

Earnings season is going to close after getting retailers’ results from Target Corp (NYSE:TGT), Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) and Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS).

On Monday August 18, 2014 S&P 500’s 467 companies have revealed their earnings out of which 67.9% companies have gone beyond expectations of analysts.

Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC)’s stocks increased by 13.3% over the previous four weeks. The company also rests above its SMA20 target. This is definitely good news for the investors. Zacks has ranked Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC)’s stock as “strong buy”, so that the company can enjoy its spotlight over another few weeks. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC)’s last day-trade ended at $29.01. The institutional ownership and the insider ownership of the stock are 19.70% and 74.14% respectively. The company’s outstanding shares are 259.03 million in volume. Of these share, 70.79 million have found their home in the market.

Many food companies were striving for a better position in the market. Due to which there was a long bidding war which finally ended on 2^nd July; a deal worth $7.7 billion was signed between Hillshire Brands Co. and Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN). Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) has the largest sales of meat processor in U.S.A. According to the deal with Hillshire, the firm will sell many of its meat products in the same stores as Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN)’s products. In the last day-trade, the company held 3.51 million shares which were lower than its average of 5.82 million shares. The company started the day-trade at $39.10, reached a peak value at $39.11 and ended the trade at $38.51; thus reducing by -1.16%.

In a report by the Wall Street Journal, Dennis “Chip” Wilson, the founder of Lululemon Athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU), was busy in talks with equity firms to make his company private. Because of this report, the company’s shares saw a rise in the trading session on Thursday. The newspaper also reported that the firms that Mr. Wilson had approached included Leonard Green & Partners. On July 3^rd, Lululemon Athletica inc. (NASDAQ:LULU) saw an increase of 2.90% in their stocks. The closing price for the stock was $42.60. The company’s range over 52 weeks was $36.26 -$77.75. The market cap of the company is $7.47 billion. The company has 145.46 million outstanding shares and held 4.05 million shares in the last day-trade.

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) has scheduled a discussion of its earnings in the fourth quarter on Friday, 1^st August. This discussion will be webcasted. The company’s stock began the last trade session at $79.93, reached a maximum of $80.14 and ended at $79.98. The range for the company was $79.64 – $80.14. The company’s average volume is 7.02 million shares, but it held 5.50 million shares in the last session. The market capitalization for the company is $216.42 billion.

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) has entered into a Stipulated Preliminary Injunction in a federal lawsuit currently pending in the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that Hello violated federal advertising laws by claiming that its anti-cavity toothpaste is “99% Natural” when it contains ingredients that are extensively and chemically processed. The P.I. requires that, beginning March 25, Hello Products must suspend making certain claims on its toothpaste packaging and advertising, including the claim that it is “99% Natural.” The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) had originally asked Hello to discontinue making the “99% Natural” claim over eight months prior to filing the lawsuit.

Kennedy-Wilson Holdings Inc (NYSE:KW), is a subsidiary of KW, intends to offer $250 million in aggregate principal amount of senior notes due 2024. The Notes will be Kennedy Wilson’s senior unsecured obligations and will be guaranteed by Kennedy-Wilson Holdings, Inc. and certain subsidiaries of Kennedy Wilson. Kennedy Wilson intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay in full outstanding borrowings under its unsecured revolving credit facility and for general corporate purposes, including future acquisitions and co-investments.

Equities researchers at UBS AG assumed coverage on shares of Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) in a research report issued on Monday, TheFlyOnTheWall.com reports. The firm set a “neutral” rating and a $81.00 price target on the stock. UBS AG’s price target points to a potential upside of 4.54% from the stock’s previous close. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) in last trading activity ended up at $78.06 with day range of $77.84 – $78.44. Company weekly performance is -0.17% while its quarterly performance stands at -6.18%. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) is -8.36% away from its 52 week high.

A U.S. district court on Thursday (local time) dismissed Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) request to ban sales of rival Samsung Electronics Co.’s smart devices, a ruling viewed as more symbolic for the heated patent battle than business loss. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) belongs to Consumer Goods sector with market capitalization of 475.59B and has 0.04% insider ownership. In last trading activity company’s stock closed at $530.75 while opening price was $532.79.

Investors in Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NASDAQ:GT) saw new options become available today, for the April 25th expiration. At Stock Options Channel , our YieldBoost formula has looked up and down the GT options chain for the new April 25th contracts and identified one put and one call contract of particular interest. On Thursday shares of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT) opened at $27.55 and closed at $28.12. This Year Company’s Earnings per Share (EPS) growth is 193.20% and next year’s estimated EPS growth is 13.27%. Analysts mean target price for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ:GT) is $27.25.