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

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $71.13.

GIS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup cut their target price 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. Barclays lowered their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $59.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills has a one year low of $57.85 and a one year high of $75.90. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.09.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued 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. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,376,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,508 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in General Mills by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth 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 period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,731,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,496,000 after acquiring an additional 670,642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.