General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.01 EPS

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock traded down $0.39 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $74.51. 9,105,188 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,993,857. The company has a market cap of $41.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.33, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $69.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.44. General Mills has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $75.90.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GIS. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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 increased their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.73.

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.