General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Short Interest Up 5.2% in November

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) was the target of a large growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 19,510,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the October 31st total of 18,550,000 shares. Approximately 3.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,730,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.2 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.67.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $65.34 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.38. The company has a market cap of $36.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. General Mills has a 52 week low of $61.47 and a 52 week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.09 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $717,640.33. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 128,664 shares in the company, valued at $9,571,314.96. This trade represents a 6.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,700,411.92. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,721,336 in the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in General Mills in the third quarter valued at $27,000. First Foundation Advisors raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 400.0% in the second quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 61.5% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. 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.