Key Takeaways
- General Mills yields 7% and held its quarterly dividend at $0.61 on Sept. 29, while Coca-Cola yields 2.3% and declared its regular $0.53 quarterly dividend on Oct. 15.
- General Mills paid 85% of its free cash flow out as dividends over the twelve months to Aug. 30, 2026, against 79% at Coca-Cola over the twelve months to Oct. 2, 2026.
- Coca-Cola grew organic revenue 7% in its third quarter of 2026, while General Mills expects organic sales between down 1.5% and up 0.5% in fiscal 2027.
- General Mills trades at 11x forward earnings, well under its five-year average of 15x, and Coca-Cola trades at 28x.
General Mills (GIS) yields 7.0% today. Coca-Cola (KO) yields 2.3%.
On Sept. 29, General Mills declared its quarterly dividend at the same $0.61 a share. Whereas Coca-Cola declared its regular 53-cent dividend on Oct. 15.
So if I could only own one of these dividends for the next 10 years, which would it be?
| Metric | General Mills (GIS) | Coca-Cola (KO) |
|---|---|---|
| Dividend yield | 7.0% | 2.3% |
| Quarterly dividend | $0.61 | $0.53 |
| Dividend growth, 5 years | 3.9% a year (fiscal 2021-2026) | 4.5% a year (fiscal 2020-2025) |
| Dividend record | Paid without interruption for 128 years | 64 annual raises in a row |
| Cash dividend payout ratio (TTM) | 85% (to Aug. 30, 2026) | 79% (to Oct. 2, 2026) |
| Net debt/EBITDA (LTM) | 3.7x | 1.5x |
| Interest coverage (LTM) | 4.9x | 10.7x |
Source: TIKR, Nov. 9, 2026; dividend records from each company’s dividend announcements.
6 safe dividend stocks paying retirees 6%+ yields
There are over 100 stocks paying 6%+ annual dividends today.
But after an extensive investment review leveraging TIKR’s proprietary data, we now believe only six of them are truly safe for retirees.
They’re all yours for free as part of our new investment report, which you can access right here.
General Mills is choosing debt over raises
General Mills’s sales are stuck for now. In its first quarter of fiscal 2027 (ended Aug. 30, 2026), organic net sales were flat and adjusted EPS fell 13% in constant currency.
That has squeezed its coverage. Free cash flow has covered the dividend every year since fiscal 2017, but the cushion shrank sharply in fiscal 2026 (ended May 2026):
Free cash flow fell to $1.63 billion in fiscal 2026 from $2.29 billion in fiscal 2025, and the dividend’s share of it jumped from 58% to 81%. Over the twelve months to Aug. 30, 2026, it hit a tight 85%.
CFO Kofi Bruce was clear about the plan: “we remain fully committed to our dividend, and in the near term, we expect to maintain the current rate per share while we prioritize deleverage.”
Net debt sits at 3.7x EBITDA, and Bruce expects it to take “at least a couple of years” to get back to the 3x target.
Coca-Cola’s cash is back
Coca-Cola’s business is heading the other way. In its third quarter of 2026, organic revenue grew 7% and unit case volume rose 5%, and the company now expects at least 5% organic growth for 2026.
Its coverage has had a rougher few years. Dividends ran well ahead of free cash flow in fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025:
Cash has come roaring back since then. Over the twelve months to Oct. 2, 2026, free cash flow was $14.28 billion, and the dividend took a manageable 79% of it. On Oct. 27, Coca-Cola raised its 2026 free cash flow outlook to at least $13.0 billion.
The balance sheet has room too. CFO John Murphy: “I believe our balance sheet today is in as good a shape as it’s been for many years.”
The risk is pricing. Price/mix grew just 1% in the third quarter, below management’s 2-3 point target.
So which dividend wins?
If I can only hold one dividend stock for the next 10 years, I’m taking General Mills.
The income gap is too wide to ignore. At each company’s five-year dividend growth rate, $10,000 in General Mills pays about $8,346 over the next decade, against about $2,821 for Coca-Cola. At each dividend’s pace now (General Mills’s 1.7% raise in fiscal 2026, Coca-Cola’s 5.2% in fiscal 2025), it’s about $7,549 against $2,914, and Coca-Cola’s income wouldn’t catch up for more than 30 years.
Even with no raises at all, $700 a year for 10 years is $7,000, more than double what Coca-Cola would pay at its faster pace. Investors are pricing in the risk, which leaves General Mills well below its usual valuation:
At 11x forward earnings, it’s near the 9.7x low it hit in June 2026.
None of this makes Coca-Cola a bad pick. Its business is growing, its balance sheet is far stronger, and management will work hard to keep 64 straight raises going. You’d also expect some stock gains over a decade, though at 28x forward earnings, the market has already paid up for a lot of that. Still, choosing Coca-Cola would mean giving up about $4,635 of income over 10 years to own the better business, and General Mills’s dividend is still covered by its cash.
Of course, an 85% payout leaves General Mills little room for error. If free cash flow keeps falling before its debt gets back to 3x EBITDA, a cut becomes a real possibility, and I’d revisit this pick.
Forget General Mills: 6 safe 6%+ dividend yields you can buy right now
Dividends can hold the key to enormous wealth. But only if you buy the right ones.
Picking the right high-yield dividend stock can be the difference between a dream retirement…and scraping by every month, waiting for the next Social Security check to clear.
We’ve identified six stocks yielding 6%+ that we believe every retiree should know about right now. (And General Mills isn’t one of them.)
Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
