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

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $70.60.

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho cut their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 199.3% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 409.8% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. RFP Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 66.3% during the first quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co increased its position in General Mills by 769.2% in the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in General Mills by 65.5% during the 1st quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS opened at $74.63 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $68.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.28. General Mills has a 12-month low of $60.33 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $41.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.68%.

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.