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

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $71.31.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GIS shares. TD Cowen lowered their price objective 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. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 9.0% during the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 764,816 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,382,000 after buying an additional 63,113 shares during the last quarter. BOKF NA lifted its position in General Mills by 1.8% during the second quarter. BOKF NA now owns 24,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,558,000 after acquiring an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in General Mills by 7.4% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 47,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,999,000 after acquiring an additional 3,270 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 48.8% in the second quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 12,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $781,000 after purchasing an additional 4,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 6.0% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 21,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,238 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of GIS opened at $59.64 on Monday. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $57.94 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $63.88 and its 200 day moving average is $67.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

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.