Sleepy General Mills Delivers in Turbulent Environment

With all the talk of the fiscal cliff and elevated market volatility, perhaps it is surprising that some allegedly low-beta sectors, like telecommunications and utilities, have struggled as of late. To the group's credit, consumer staples have held up nicely. Quiet as it has been kept, one familiar staples stock has started to shine in recent weeks. Sleepy though not small, General Mills

is up nearly 2.4 percent in the past month. The gains for the shares are made all the impressive when considering this is a dividend stock, meaning it could have been vulnerable in an environment dominated by fears of increased dividend taxes. As the company points out

, it has paid dividends uninterrupted for 113 consecutive years. The dividend has been increased every year dating back to 1996. The annual dividend was 78.5 cents per share in 2008. Assuming no increases -- an unlikely proposition -- General Mills will pay $1.32 per share in dividends in 2013. Vulnerable to the fiscal cliff? Not General Mills. At least not yet. Investors can pull up a chart and see the stock is trading just pennies away from its 52-week high just over $41. Actually, do some more digging to discover something else few are talking about: That is not just a 52-week high. That is an all-time high for the second-largest U.S. food company. Beyond a decent yield of 3.2 percent and dependable dividend increases, conservative investors likely love the low-beta ways of General Mills. The stock's beta against the S&P 500 is 0.17. Coca-Cola's

beta is triple that. Procter & Gamble's

is close to triple that of General Mills, yet General Mills has easily outperformed those two Dow components in the past month. Or investors can just ponder this: Thirty-year U.S. Treasuries yield on 2.9 percent with little chance for capital appreciation. Why not grab another 30 basis points of yield with General Mills? Assuming five percent annual dividend growth over the next three decades for General Mills, investors land a

. Even the pros like the low-beta posture afforded by General Mills. In the most recent round of 13F filings from hedge funds,

General Mills popped up in filings by 22 funds

. Said another way, at the end of the third quarter, General Mills was one of the most owned food stocks in the hedge fund community. Additionally, it should be noted that General Mills does operate as a wide-moat outfit. It is the number one or number two company across more than 10 food categories ranging from grain snacks to cereals to soups. Progresso has a 40% share of the ready-to-serve soup category, up from 25% when General Mills acquired the business in 2003,

. Overall, sales trends for 2013 look positive. The company said recent sales of its Greek yogurts have been "encouraging" and results within the natural and organic foods businesses have also been positive, Food Business reported. Should those trends continue working in the company's favor, particularly yogurt, new all-time highs for the shares will be easily reached throughout next year.