General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 EPS.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock opened at $59.23 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $32.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The business’s fifty day moving average is $60.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.42. General Mills has a 52 week low of $55.15 and a 52 week high of $75.90.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.26% 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.