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

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.94.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. Citigroup lowered their price objective on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price 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. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

General Mills Stock Down 0.7 %

General Mills stock opened at $59.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $32.60 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.21. General Mills has a 1-year low of $57.94 and a 1-year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,565,000 after purchasing an additional 43,086 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in General Mills by 105.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares during the period. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth $547,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 129.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after acquiring an additional 104,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted 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 worth $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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.