General Mills Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:GIS)

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 10,604 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 141% compared to the average volume of 4,398 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 1.7% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $783,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in General Mills by 61.5% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of GIS opened at $57.53 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $31.71 billion, a PE ratio of 12.51, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. The business has a fifty day moving average of $61.47 and a 200 day moving average of $66.81. General Mills has a 52-week low of $55.15 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.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.17%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

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.