General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Earns Sector Perform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their sector perform rating on shares of General Mills (NYSE:GIS) in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $70.00 price target on the stock.

GIS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Bank of America cut their price objective on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.71.

General Mills Stock Up 2.4 %

General Mills stock opened at $61.01 on Monday. General Mills has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 217,729 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,885,000 after buying an additional 52,262 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 212,715 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,565,000 after buying an additional 5,070 shares in the last quarter. Aegis Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $271,000. Probity Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 14,004 shares of the company’s stock valued at $893,000 after buying an additional 1,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH increased its holdings in General Mills by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 27,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after buying an additional 2,123 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.