General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Receives $71.94 Consensus PT from Analysts

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.44.

GIS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen upped their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Mizuho raised their target price on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays lowered their price target 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value of $50,104.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Operose Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 214.1% during the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in General Mills by 199.3% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 409.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $63.26 on Thursday. General Mills has a 52 week low of $60.33 and a 52 week high of $77.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $35.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.12. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $68.51 and a 200-day moving average of $66.75.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.68%.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.