General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) will release earnings for its third quarter before the opening bell on Wednesday, March 18.

Analysts expect the company to report quarterly earnings of 73 cents per share. That’s down from $1.00 per share in the year-ago period. The consensus estimate for General Mills' quarterly revenue is $4.43 billion (it reported $4.84 billion last year), according to Benzinga Pro.

Ahead of quarterly earnings, Barclays analyst Andrew Lazar, on Monday, maintained General Mills with an Equal-Weight rating and lowered the price target from $46 to $43. Wells Fargo analyst Chris Carey, on March 12, downgraded General Mills from Equal-Weight to Underweight and cut the price target from $45 to $35.

With the recent buzz around General Mills, some investors may be eyeing potential gains from the company's dividends too. As of now, General Mills has an annual dividend yield of 6.26%, which is a quarterly dividend amount of 61 cents per share ($2.44 a year).  

So, how can investors exploit its dividend yield to pocket a regular $500 monthly?

To earn $500 per month or $6,000 annually from dividends alone, you would need an investment of approximately $95,852 or around 2,459 shares. For a more modest $100 per month or $1,200 per year, you would need $19,178 or around 492 shares.

To calculate: Divide the desired annual income ($6,000 or $1,200) by the dividend ($2.44 in this case). So, $6,000 / $2.44 = 2,459 ($500 per month), and $1,200 / $2.44 = 492 shares ($100 per month).

Note that dividend yield can change on a rolling basis, as the dividend payment and the stock price both fluctuate over time.

How that works: The dividend yield is computed by dividing the annual dividend payment by the stock’s current price.

For example, if a stock pays an annual dividend of $2 and is currently priced at $50, the dividend yield would be 4% ($2/$50). However, if the stock price increases to $60, the dividend yield drops to 3.33% ($2/$60). Conversely, if the stock price falls to $40, the dividend yield rises to 5% ($2/$40).

Similarly, changes in the dividend payment can impact the yield. If a company increases its dividend, the yield will also increase, provided the stock price stays the same. Conversely, if the dividend payment decreases, so will the yield.

GIS Price Action: Shares of General Mills fell 1% to close at $38.98 on Monday.

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