General Mills stock has a long dividend history
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) is one of the longest-standing American manufacturers of branded consumer foods. The company dates all the way back to the 1860’s. Some of General Mills' most popular brands include Betty Crocker, Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Nature Valley, and Pillsbury.
In 2020, General Mills stock price has increased 16%. General Mills stock price has also increased 30% from its 52-week low of $46.59, but is currently down just 9% from its 52-week high of $66.14. Overhead pressure from the 120-day moving average has kept a gap on gains, however, despite the equity's long-term technical outperformance.
General Mills will be closing out the year of 2020 with its earnings report slated to be released next week on Dec. 17. General Mills stock has beat Wall Street's expectations on all four of its four most recent earnings reports. In the fourth quarter of 2019, GIS beat expectations by $0.07, reporting an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.95. In the first quarter of 2020, General Mills stock dropped its EPS to $0.77, still beating expectations by $0.01. GIS reported an increased EPS for the second quarter of 2020. General Mills stock reported an EPS of $1.10, beating expectations by a margin of $0.04. In its most recent quarter, GIS beat expectations by a decent margin of $0.13, or 15%. General Mills stock reported an EPS of $1.00. As for the company's upcoming earnings report next week, GIS is expected to report an EPS of $0.97.
GIS has a forward dividend of $2.04 and a dividend yield of 3.41%. General Mills announced a dividend of $0.51 for the last quarter of 2020. General Mills stock has reportedly paid dividends for an incredible 122 years.
General Mills provides exactly what one would expect from it as an investor. The company has stable revenue that it continues to grow on an annual basis.General Mills' net income does slightly fluctuate depending on the given year, though. Nonetheless, the company’s annual net profits tend to hover consistently around the $2 billion mark. The most jarring thing about General Mills, from an investment perspective, is its $13.62 billion in total debt compared to its $1.8 billion in available cash.
Overall, the company isn’t likely going to knock down huge gains through General Mills stock growth. Likely, the most viable way to invest in GIS is as a dividend play. Its household brands provide stability that the company will continue to prosper in the foreseeable future. General Mills stock's price-earnings ratio of 16.15 means that GIS is unlikely to depreciate significantly, if at all. General Mills’ extensive history of uninterrupted dividends makes it a safe bet for investors looking to collect consistent dividend payments.
For those looking to invest using options on General Mills stock for shorter-term returns, GIS currently sports an incredibly low ranking of just 4 out of 100 on the Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS). This scorecard allows us to identify which underlying equities’ options have historically had underpriced or overpriced options. We rank each equity’s options relative to the others in our database. Low SVS readings like this one point to the stock having consistently realized lower volatility than their options have priced in -- pointing to GIS being a potential premium-selling candidate.