General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $71.31.

GIS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $58.51 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $32.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills has a 1 year low of $58.27 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total transaction of $576,156.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,055,870.64. This trade represents a 35.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,624 shares of company stock valued at $3,897,326. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,629 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 2.6% during the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About General Mills

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.