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

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 10,604 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 141% compared to the typical volume of 4,398 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen reduced 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. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. 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. According to MarketBeat, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.13.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $783,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,646 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. Means Investment CO. Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $202,000. Finally, Carl Stuart Investment Advisor Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $227,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $57.53 on Wednesday. General Mills has a one year low of $55.15 and a one year high of $75.90. The company’s 50-day moving average is $61.47 and its 200 day moving average is $66.81. The company has a market capitalization of $31.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

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.