Quick Read
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P&G delivered its 70th consecutive dividend hike; GPC surged 20% in a month with a tax-free spin-off into two companies targeting Q1 2027.
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Altria yields 6% with shares up 33% year to date, though cigarette volume fell 5% and NJOY ACE remains blocked by the ITC.
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Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and P&G didn’t make the cut. Grab the names FREE today.
Dividend Kings, companies with at least 50 consecutive years of dividend increases, are the quiet backbone of an income portfolio. Heading into July, three of them stand out for different reasons: One is the textbook compounding consumer staple, one is a turnaround with a catalyst on the clock and one is the high-yield income workhorse.
Here is the bull case for each.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG)
Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) is the cleanest Dividend King in the group. The company just delivered its 70th consecutive annual dividend increase and has paid a dividend every year since 1890. At a recent price of $151.08, the stock yields roughly 3% and trades at a forward P/E of 21x.
The bull case is operational momentum. Q3 FY26 was the fourth consecutive top- and bottom-line beat, with core EPS of $1.59 against a $1.5552 estimate and net sales of $21.23 billion, up 7% year over year. Growth was broad: Beauty +11%, Grooming +7%, Health Care +7%, Fabric & Home Care +7%. CEO Shailesh Jejurikar described “a solid acceleration in top-line results…broad-based growth across product categories and regions.” Management plans to return roughly $10 billion in dividends and $5 billion in buybacks in FY26 and Wall Street’s average target sits at $163.52.
Risk: tariffs and commodities. P&G is absorbing a ~$400 million after-tax tariff headwind and ~$150 million commodity headwind, with core gross margin compressed 100 basis points. Guidance now points to the lower end of the $6.83 to $7.09 core EPS range.
Genuine Parts (NYSE: GPC)
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Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC), the parent of NAPA, is the catalyst trade. Shares have ripped 20% in the past month to $117.67, yet the stock remains roughly flat year over year. The dividend streak now stands at 70 consecutive years, with the quarterly payout raised 3% to $1.0625, good for a yield near 4%.
The bull case has three legs. First, Q1 FY26 results came in “ahead of expectations,” with adjusted EPS of $1.77 on $6.26 billion in revenue and Industrial EBITDA margin expanding 90 basis points to 14%. Second, the planned tax-free separation into two independent public companies, Global Automotive and Global Industrial, is targeted for Q1 2027, and CEO Will Stengel called it a step “expected to unlock value for our stakeholders.” Third, DA Davidson initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $145 target on June 23, citing the spin-off and NAPA cost-cutting. Forward P/E is just 15x.
