Dividend investors are always on the hunt for dividend stocks with consistent track records of making dividend payments to their shareholders. They want the kind of consistency that they can rely on and that allows them to “set it and forget it.” There are plenty of stocks that boast impressive track records in this regard — for example, Dividend Aristocrats have made and raised their dividend payouts for the past 25 years in a row, while Dividend Kings have done so for 50 years.
Pick the best stocks and maximize your portfolio:
- Discover top-rated stocks from highly ranked analysts with Analyst Top Stocks!
- Easily identify outperforming stocks and invest smarter with Top Smart Score Stocks
But when it comes to the sheer longevity of paying a dividend, it’s hard to beat consumer staples giant General Mills (GIS). The Minneapolis-based company has paid out dividends to shareholders without interruption for over a century. I’m bullish on GIS stock because of its impressive dividend track record, its attractive yield, defensive business, and its modest valuation. Plus, the analyst outlook implies potential upside of over 14% in the next 12 months.
General Mills Explained
You’re likely already familiar with General Mills and many of its products. Its portfolio of brands includes some of the most popular brands you see on grocery store shelves, including well-known cereals such as Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, and others.
But there’s more to General Mills than just breakfast cereal. The company also owns labels geared towards healthier eating such as Annie’s and Nature Valley, a variety of offerings in yogurt, Haagen-Daaz ice cream, brands that make ingredients for cooking such as Betty Crocker and Pillsbury, and more. In recent years, it has even diversified into pet food with the 2018 acquisition of company Blue Buffalo.
What I like about General Mills is that its suite of products makes it a defensive stock. In the event of a downturn, consumers can forgo or delay splashier big-ticket purchases or scale back on vacations and eating out, but they’ll likely continue to buy their favorite cereal or ingredients they need to cook at home.
A Century of Dividend Payments
As mentioned, General Mills has paid out dividends to its shareholders for a remarkable 124 years in a row. It’s hard to beat that type of consistency and that is the type of reliability that enables income investors to sleep well at night. While General Mills is not a Dividend Aristocrat or a Dividend King, it is making progress on the dividend growth front and has increased its dividend payout in each of the past five years.
With a current yield of 3.6%, General Mills’ dividend is well above average in a market where the S&P 500’s average yield is a meager 1.2%. With a payout ratio of over 50%, there doesn’t seem to be much cause for concern about the company needing to cut its dividend, making General Mills a solid pick for dividend investors.
Modest Valuation
In addition to sporting a much higher yield than the S&P 500 average, General Mills is also significantly cheaper than the broader market. Shares trade for a modest valuation of just 14.6 times consensus May 2025 earnings estimates. Zoom out a year further and shares look even cheaper, trading at 14 times May 2026 estimates. These numbers represent a significant discount to the S&P 500, which is now trading at over 25 times earnings after a strong performance this year.
With the S&P 500 trading at a historically elevated valuation and setting new all-time highs on a weekly basis, it isn’t a bad time for investors to consider adding some cheaper, defensive stocks with attractive dividend yields to their portfolios to diversify and defend their holdings.
Is GIS Stock a Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, GIS has a consensus Hold rating based on three Buys, 11 Holds, and zero Sell rating assigned in the past three months. The average GIS stock price target of $74.43 implies 14% upside potential from current levels.
Read more analyst ratings on GIS stock
Conclusion
Adding it all up, General Mills is a particularly attractive dividend stock for income investors. I’m bullish on shares of the consumer staples giant based on its attractive, above-average 3.6% dividend yield combined with its long track record of making dividend payments to its shareholders for 124 years in a row. I also view General Mills as a strong choice for investors based on the defensive nature of its business and its modest valuation, both of which position it well in the event of a downturn or stock market correction. At a time when markets are setting record highs, adding a stock like General Mills to a portfolio is a sound idea.
