General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Shares Down 4.4% – Should You Sell?

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)’s share price fell 4.4% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $38.65 and last traded at $38.7810. Approximately 4,395,283 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 53% from the average session volume of 9,346,598 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.58.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised General Mills from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on General Mills from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on General Mills from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of General Mills from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $39.37.

General Mills Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.73 and a 200-day moving average of $37.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -216.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of -0.01.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 1st. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $4.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.59 billion. General Mills had a negative net margin of 0.48% and a positive return on equity of 21.37%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. General Mills has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.000-3.200 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,355.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the second quarter valued at $9,188,000. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its position in shares of General Mills by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 65,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,374,000 after acquiring an additional 2,552 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd grew its position in shares of General Mills by 112.6% in the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 8,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $465,000 after acquiring an additional 4,752 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 82,037 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,250,000 after purchasing an additional 3,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 334.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 19,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 15,041 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company’s portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.