General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $71.56.

GIS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays decreased their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

General Mills Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of GIS opened at $63.55 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $66.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills has a 1-year low of $61.47 and a 1-year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. Analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $717,640.33. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 128,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,571,314.96. The trade was a 6.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,271 shares of company stock worth $4,614,966 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the second quarter worth about $370,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in General Mills in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $47,000. &PARTNERS lifted its holdings in General Mills by 39.0% during the 2nd quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 23,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,459,000 after buying an additional 6,475 shares in the last quarter. JB Capital LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 48,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,087,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Company Profile

General Mills, Inc manufactures and markets branded consumer foods worldwide. The company operates through four segments: North America Retail; International; Pet; and North America Foodservice. It offers grain, ready-to-eat cereals, refrigerated yogurt, soup, meal kits, refrigerated and frozen dough products, dessert and baking mixes, bakery flour, frozen pizza and pizza snacks, snack bars, fruit and savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.