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

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $72.73.

GIS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price for the company.

General Mills Stock Performance

General Mills stock opened at $73.61 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.08. General Mills has a 52 week low of $60.33 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.08, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $717,640.33. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 128,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,571,314.96. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,700,411.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $717,640.33. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 128,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,571,314.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,219,113,000 after buying an additional 8,444,312 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 22.3% in the first 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 in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 100.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,563 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 6,140.4% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,807,000 after purchasing an additional 930,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in General Mills in the first quarter worth about $36,177,000. 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.