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

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com 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 twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $71.13.

GIS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

General Mills Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $59.37 on Friday. General Mills has a 1-year low of $57.85 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $32.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.91, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $62.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.09. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share 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 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new position in General Mills during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.