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

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $65.69.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, March 24th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $59.64 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.97 and a 200-day moving average of $64.26.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was 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 $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $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.