General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Short Interest Up 8.2% in September

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 17,880,000 shares, an increase of 8.2% from the August 31st total of 16,520,000 shares. Approximately 3.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,870,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Citigroup boosted their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.73.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,700,411.92. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,219,113,000 after purchasing an additional 8,444,312 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in General Mills by 22.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,118,000 after buying an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in General Mills by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,858,000 after buying an additional 501,717 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in General Mills by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,151,000 after buying an additional 323,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in General Mills by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,478,000 after buying an additional 148,235 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of GIS opened at $74.38 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39. General Mills has a 12 month low of $60.33 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $70.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.87. The stock has a market cap of $41.51 billion, a PE ratio of 17.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.68%.

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.