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

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $73.56.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen raised their price target on General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS opened at $63.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.17. General Mills has a 1 year low of $61.47 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $35.48 billion, a PE ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 67,555 shares of company stock worth $4,721,336. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. First Foundation Advisors increased its holdings in General Mills by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 61.5% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills during the third quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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.