General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

by · The Cerbat Gem

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS – Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.8235.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GIS shares. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of General Mills from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Bernstein Bank lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 18th.

Get Our Latest Analysis on GIS

General Mills Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $48.48 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.86 billion, a PE ratio of 9.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of -0.03. General Mills has a 1-year low of $47.48 and a 1-year high of $70.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The company’s revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 46.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total transaction of $200,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 66,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills in the 2nd quarter valued at $222,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 522,576 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,245,000 after acquiring an additional 35,494 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 452,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,076,000 after acquiring an additional 32,628 shares during the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at $3,610,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd increased its holdings in General Mills by 126.1% in the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 774,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,285,000 after acquiring an additional 431,693 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About General Mills

(Get Free Report)

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.

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