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

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.82.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th.

General Mills Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $66.32 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $65.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.51. General Mills has a 52 week low of $60.33 and a 52 week high of $76.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $37.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.39, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.09.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,227,706.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,219,113,000 after purchasing an additional 8,444,312 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,488,341 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in General Mills by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,858,000 after buying an additional 501,717 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $377,205,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in General Mills by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,362,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,459,000 after buying an additional 369,628 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.