General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Hits New 52-Week Low – What’s Next?

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $61.45 and last traded at $61.51, with a volume of 5390024 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $63.88.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.31.

General Mills Trading Up 0.0 %

The company’s fifty day moving average is $64.85 and its 200-day moving average is $67.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total value of $576,156.24. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,055,870.64. The trade was a 35.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,624 shares of company stock worth $3,897,326 in the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in General Mills by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew 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 worth $299,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 6,140.4% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,807,000 after buying an additional 930,271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.