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

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have given a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $71.31.

Several analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup cut 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,151,000 after purchasing an additional 323,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of General Mills by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,478,000 after purchasing an additional 148,235 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $59.64 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills has a 52 week low of $57.94 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $63.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.52.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.42 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

About General Mills

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.