General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.01 EPS

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.77. 1,093,494 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,949,837. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $69.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.38. General Mills has a twelve month low of $60.33 and a twelve month high of $75.90.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.21%. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Bank of America upped their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on General Mills in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.40.

General Mills Company Profile

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.