General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Shares Down 3% Following Analyst Downgrade

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) shares dropped 3% during trading on Wednesday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $68.00 to $65.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. General Mills traded as low as $58.19 and last traded at $58.62. Approximately 1,508,332 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 4,995,444 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.44.

GIS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Transce3nd LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $60.04 and a 200-day moving average of $65.42.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

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.