General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,420,000 shares, a decrease of 6.2% from the January 15th total of 23,910,000 shares. Approximately 4.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,420,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days.

General Mills Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $57.94 on Thursday. 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 has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $31.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.66.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,376,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in General Mills by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $923,907,000 after acquiring an additional 136,895 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $581,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in General Mills by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $514,101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,483 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays cut their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.88.

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.