General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on the stock from $83.00 to $82.00. The stock had previously closed at $65.93, but opened at $63.10. General Mills shares last traded at $64.41, with a volume of 2,702,632 shares traded.

GIS has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares in the company, valued at $2,700,411.92. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 67,555 shares of company stock worth $4,721,336. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at about $370,000. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. &PARTNERS boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 39.0% in the 2nd quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 23,070 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,459,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475 shares during the period. JB Capital LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. JB Capital LLC now owns 48,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,087,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in General Mills by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $66.76 and a 200-day moving average of $68.17. The company has a market capitalization of $35.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. 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 (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

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

About General Mills

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.