General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Reaches New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $72.00 to $65.00. Mizuho currently has a neutral rating on the stock. General Mills traded as low as $57.85 and last traded at $58.06, with a volume of 3432636 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.82.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on GIS. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.13.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale 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 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, 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. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new position in General Mills in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $32.00 billion, a PE ratio of 12.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $62.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.15.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

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.