About Procter & Gamble Co
History of the company [1]
Procter & Gamble (P&G) was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble, two immigrants to the United States who were brought together by chance when they married the Norris sisters in Cincinnati, Ohio. Procter was a candle maker and Gamble was a soap maker, and they decided to combine their businesses to create a new company, upon the urging of their father-in-law.
Initially, P&G was a small, family-run business that produced and sold candles and soap, although it grew quickly and reached USD 1 million in sales by 1859. During the American Civil War, the company was contracted to supply the Army with soap and candles, further introducing P&G products to soldiers from all over the country,
In the 1880s, P&G introduced what would be its most successful product – Ivory bar soap. The soap had the unique property of being able to float in water, which brought about greater convenience when bathing in the river (as was the custom of the time). It was also tested to have a high degree of purity, leading to the iconic advertising tagline “99 and 44/100% (99.4%) pure” and a reputation as a gentle, high-quality soap that was affordable for the average consumer.
Buoyed by heightened demand, the company began to expand its operations beyond its home turf of Cincinnati and began diversifying into other products, including Crisco, launched in 1911 as a vegetable-based alternative to shortening made from animal fat. P&G’s active sponsorships of radio dramas in the 1920s led to the rise of the phrase “soap operas”. In 1930, the company embarked on its first step to become a global brand with its acquisition of the Thomas Hedley Co, based in England.
P&G went on to expand its product line, introducing new household and personal care products such as Tide laundry detergent, Pampers diapers, Crest toothpaste, and Gillette razors. It also continued to expand its operations globally, establishing subsidiaries and acquiring companies in various countries, steadily growing into one of the most successful consumer goods companies in history.
Business segments [2]
Today, P&G is one of the largest consumer goods companies in the world, with a portfolio of well-known brands and a presence in more than 180 countries. It maintains a 10-category portfolio consisting of
- Personal health care
- Oral care
- Hair care
- Skin and personal care
- Grooming
- Fabric care
- Home care
- Baby care
- Feminine care
- Family care
The company is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It has an estimated staff size of approximately 106,000 [3].
About the stock PG
PG trading information
- Primary exchange: NYSE
- Ticker: PG
- Country: U.S.A
- Currency: USD
- Trading hours:
- Main: 9.30am to 4pm ET, Mon to Fri
- Pre-market: 4am to 9.30am
- After-market: 4pm to 8pm
When was PG listed?
Procter & Gamble became a publicly traded company in 1890 [4].
At the time of writing, the share price of PG is USD 156.17. The stock’s highest price was seen on 28 Apr 2022, when it closed the day at USD 159.18 [5].
Stock splits
PG has announced a series of five stock splits since going public [6]. The total number of PG shares outstanding is estimated to be 2.473 billion [7].
Date | Stock Split |
Jun 2004 | 2 for 1 |
Sep 1997 | 2 for 1 |
Jun 1992 | 2 for 1 |
Nov 1989 | 2 for 1 |
Feb 1983 | 2 for 1 |
Dividends [8]
PG is a dividend-paying stock, and dividends are paid out every quarter. In 2022, the company paid out USD 0.913 per share every quarter.
Furthermore, since 2012, the company has steadily increased its dividend payouts. Annual total dividend per share rose from USD 2.14 in FY 2012 to USD 3.52 in FY 2022.
Latest developments investors should note
P&G posts strong results in latest earnings report [9]
After mainly flat results in Q2 2023, P&G bounced back strongly in its latest earnings report. For Q3 2023, the company saw modest gains in net sales, organic sales and diluted and core earnings-per-share (EPS).
Net sales totalled up to USD 20.1 billion, a 4% increase over the same period in the previous year. Meanwhile, organic sales went up by 7%, while both diluted and core EPS increased by 3% to USD 1.37. Operating cash flow was recorded at USD 3.9 billion.
Encouragingly, organic sales growth was seen across all 10 of the company’s global categories. P&G’s aggregate global value share was also unchanged from the prior year.
P&G sees flat Q2 2023 results [10]
For the second quarter of fiscal year 2023, P&G turned in a report card that was mainly flat. The company achieved USD 20.8 billion in net sales, a 1% dip compared to the same period last year. Organic sales – excluding the effects of foreign exchange, acquisitions and divestitures, saw a slight increase of 5%. Meanwhile, diluted net earnings per share (EPS_ fell slightly to USD 1.59, a 4% decrease compared to the prior year.
Operating cash flow was USD 3.6 billion for the quarter, with net earnings coming in at USD 4.0 billion. The company returned USD 4.2 billion of cash to shareholders via approximately USD 2.2 billion of dividend payments and USD 2 billion of common stock repurchases.
Chairman and CEO John Moeller noted the “solid results (delivered)…. in what continues to be a very difficult cost and operating environment”. Nonetheless, Q2’s report enables the company to raise sales growth outlook and maintain guidance range for EPS growth despite the significant headwinds that are expected to continue.
“We remain committed to our integrated strategies of a focused product portfolio, superiority, productivity, constructive disruption and an agile and accountable organisation structure.
“These strategies have enabled us to build and sustain strong momentum. They remain the right strategies to navigate through the near-term challenges we’re facing and continue to deliver balanced growth and value creation,” he added.
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References
- “Procter & Gamble Co. history, profile and history video – Companies History.com”. https://www.companieshistory.com/procter-gamble/. Accessed 16 May 2023.
- “Company Strategy – P&G”. https://www.pginvestor.com/company-strategy/default.aspx. Accessed 16 May 2023.
- “Procter & Gamble Co – Google Finance”. https://www.google.com/finance/quote/PG:NYSE?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjBw-aNt9v-AhXsoWMGHZTXCqUQ3ecFegQIKBAg. Accessed 16 May 2023.
- “Procter & Gamble Company – Encyclopedia.com”. https://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/trade-magazines/procter-gamble-company. Accessed 16 May 2023.
- “Procter & Gamble – 53 Year Stock Price History | PG – Macrotrends”. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/PG/procter-gamble/stock-price-history. Accessed 16 May 2023.
- “SPLITS & DIVIDEND HISTORY – P&G”. https://www.pginvestor.com/stock-information/splits-dividend-history/default.aspx. Accessed 16 May 2023.
- “Procter & Gamble Shares Outstanding 2010-2023 | PG – Macrotrends”. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/PG/procter-gamble/shares-outstanding. Accessed 16 May 2023.
- “SPLITS & DIVIDEND HISTORY – P&G”. https://www.pginvestor.com/stock-information/splits-dividend-history/default.aspx. Accessed 16 May 2023.
- “P&G Announces Third Quarter FY’23 Results – P&G”. https://us.pg.com/blogs/pg-earnings-third-quarter-2023/. Accessed 16 May 2023.
- “P&G Announces Fiscal Year 2023 Second Quarter Results – P&G”. https://www.pginvestor.com/financial-reporting/press-releases/news-details/2023/PG-Announces-Fiscal-Year-2023-Second-Quarter-Results/default.aspx. Accessed 16 May 2023.