5 Best Dividend Aristocrat Stocks To Buy Heading Into Recession

4. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 67

Dividend Yield as of May 6: 2.34%

Number of Years of Consecutive Dividend Increases: 66

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) offers branded consumer packaged goods to customers in North and Latin America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Greater China, India, the Middle East, and Africa. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) has a rich dividend history, increasing its payments consistently for 66 years. 

On April 20, The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) posted earnings for Q1 2022, posting an EPS of $1.33, beating consensus estimates by $0.04. The $19.38 billion revenue grew 7.02% year-over-year, surpassing analysts’ predictions by roughly $688 million. 

The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) declared on April 12 a $0.9133 per share quarterly dividend, a 5% increase from its last dividend of $0.8698. The dividend is payable on May 16, to shareholders of the company as of April 22. The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s dividend yield on May 6 stood at 2.34%. 

Barclays analyst Lauren Lieberman on April 22 reiterated an Overweight rating on The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) and raised the firm’s price target on the stock to $176 from $167. The analyst expects the company’s results to “set an extremely high bar” for the industry and ultimately serve to reinforce The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)’s “widened fundamental performance gap”.

According to Insider Monkey’s database, 67 hedge funds held long positions in The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) at the end of December 2021, with collective stakes worth $6.6 billion. Andy Brown’s Cedar Rock Capital is a prominent shareholder of the company, with a position worth $986 million.