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

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $71.31.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays dropped their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th.

General Mills Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $58.51 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.70. General Mills has a 1-year low of $58.27 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $32.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.11. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total value of $576,156.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,055,870.64. The trade was a 35.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,624 shares of company stock valued at $3,897,326 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 9.0% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 764,816 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,382,000 after buying an additional 63,113 shares in the last quarter. BOKF NA grew its holdings in General Mills by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. BOKF NA now owns 24,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,558,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 47,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,999,000 after purchasing an additional 3,270 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 48.8% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 12,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $781,000 after purchasing an additional 4,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 21,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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.