This week, I'm seeking the second robust dividend-paying stock from the consumer defensive business sector for my Ivy portfolio. 

That defensive sector includes thirteen industries all related to providing those conveniently packaged goods we've just gotta have. Industries like: beverages, brewed, soft, or distilled; confections; discount stores; education & training; farm products; food distribution; grocery stores; household & personal products; packaged goods; pharmaceutical retailers; tobacco

Today I'm reviewing a large-cap packaged goods company, named General Mills Inc. Its trading ticker symbol is GIS.

General Mills Inc is a global manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods, such as ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, refrigerated dough and other baking items, snack foods, ice cream, and yogurt worldwide. The company operates in five segments: North America Retail; Convenience Stores & Foodservice; Europe & Australia; Asia & Latin America; and Pet. 

It offers ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, grain, fruit, and savory snacks, as well as organic products, including refrigerated yogurt, nutrition bars, meal kits, salty snacks, ready-to-eat cereal, and grain snacks. It also supplies branded and unbranded food products to the North American foodservice and commercial baking industries; and manufactures and markets pet food products, including dog and cat food. 

The company markets its products under the Annie's, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Häagen-Dazs, Nature Valley, Pillsbury Yoplait and numerous other brands and trademarks.

General Mills sells its products directly, as well as through broker and distribution arrangements to grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, e-commerce retailers, commercial and noncommercial foodservice distributors and operators, restaurants, convenience stores, and pet specialty stores, as well as drug, dollar, and discount chains.

It operates 507 leased and 372 franchise branded ice cream parlors. 

The company was founded in 1866 and is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I use three key data points to gauge the value of any dividend equity or fund like General Mills Inc. (GIS): 

(1) Price

(2) Dividends

(3) Returns

Besides those three, four more keys will finally unlock an equity or fund in which to invest.

But those first three primary keys, best tell whether a company has made, is making, and will make money. 

GIS Price

General Mills's price per share was $42.31 at Friday's market close. A year ago its price was $56.46 for a price drop of $14.15 per share for the year, or a 25% tumble. 

Assuming General Mills' price will trade in the range of $35 to $60next year, General Mills' recent $42.31 price could maybe climb by $3.00 and improve to $45.31 by early-December, 2019. 

GIS Dividends

General Mills' most recent quarterly dividend was $0.49 declared November 6th and payable, February 1st. 

That $0.49 quarterly stipend equates to an annual amount of $1.96 yielding 4.6% at yesterday's closing $42.31 price.

Gains For GIS?

Adding the $1.96 annual dividend to my estimated $3.00 annual price upside estimate forGeneral Mills Inc. (GIS) adds up to a $4.96 potential gross annual per share gain, which will be reduced by costs to trade the shares.  

For a little over $1,000.00 invested today at the $42.31 recent price, we could buy 24 GIS shares. 

A $10 broker fee paid half at purchase and half at sale costs us $0.42 per share. Subtract that $0.42 brokerage cost from the estimated $4.96 gross annual gain leaves a net gain of $4.54 X 24 shares = $108.96 for a 10.8% net gain on a $1,015.44 investment.

Therefore, General Mills Inc whose trading ticker symbol is GIS, now shows a possible 10.8% net gain including a 4.6% dividend yield. 

Twenty brokers cover this stock:

Five say "buy" GIS shares

None think GIS will "outperform" peers.

Fourteen say "hold" your GIS shares.

One thinks GIS will "underperform" peers.

The median price consensus among those twenty brokers is a $6.06 gain, slightly double my $3 estimate.

Therefore, you could look at General Mills,and see it has made money, is making money, but could net a 10 to 15% net annual gain including that4.6% dividend yield. It could be more, it could be less.  

The above speculation is based on past year performance. The actual results remain to be seen to determine if General Mills Inc. (GIS) is worth your time and money.