General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $36.59

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) have been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the twenty analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $36.59.

GIS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $34.00 target price (up from $33.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on General Mills from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of General Mills from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th.

General Mills Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $33.45 on Friday. General Mills has a 52 week low of $31.17 and a 52 week high of $49.59. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.77.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 23rd. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.35 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.86 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that General Mills will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 13th will be given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 13th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.3%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in General Mills during the second quarter valued at $2,181,608,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,672,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,344,000 after buying an additional 143,265 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in General Mills by 1.4% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,200,299 shares of the company’s stock valued at $156,335,000 after acquiring an additional 58,608 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 41.0% during the second quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,140,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $144,099,000 after buying an additional 1,203,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in General Mills in the 2nd quarter valued at $129,298,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc is a global food company that manufactures and markets branded consumer foods. Its portfolio includes cereal, snack foods, refrigerated and baking products, yogurt, soup, meals, and pet food. The company’s brands include Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Yoplait, Old El Paso, Progresso, Annie’s, Totino’s, Häagen-Dazs, and Blue Buffalo.

General Mills sells products through grocery stores, mass merchandisers, convenience stores, e-commerce channels, restaurants, and other foodservice outlets.