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

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) dropped 3% during trading on Wednesday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $62.00 to $60.00. Mizuho currently has a neutral rating on the stock. General Mills traded as low as $58.19 and last traded at $58.62. Approximately 1,508,332 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 4,995,444 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.44.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.76.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Down 1.5 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $32.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $59.99 and its 200-day moving average is $65.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

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.