Procter & Gamble (PG) will raise its quarterly dividend by 10.0 percent to 86.98 cents per share in 2021. This follows a 6.0 percent increase to $0.7907 per share announced in 2020, and marks the 65th consecutive year of dividend increases. This is the first double digit dividend hike announced by the Dividend Aristocrat since 2009. 

The next dividend will be paid on or after May 17, 2021, to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 23, 2021. A new annual rate of approximately $3.48 per share yields 2.6% at a stock price of $135.11.

Procter & Gamble has raised its dividend by an average of 5.4 percent, up from 3.6 percent, in the last five years. The company now pays approximately $8.59 billion in dividends annually and is one of the biggest dividend payers worldwide.

The Procter & Gamble Company provides branded consumer packaged goods to consumers worldwide. The company has five reportable segments: Beauty; Grooming; Health Care; Fabric & Home Care and Baby, Feminine & Family Care. Procter's brands include Gilette, Olay, Old Spice, Safeguard, Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Rejoice, Mach3, Prestobarba, Venus, Cascade, Dawn, Febreze, Mr. Clean, Bounty and Charmin. P&G has paid a dividend every year since its incorporation in 1890. The company was incorporated in Ohio in 1905, having been built from a business founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble.