Short Interest in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Rises By 8.6%

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 21,180,000 shares, an increase of 8.6% from the November 15th total of 19,510,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,730,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.7 days. Approximately 3.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

General Mills Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of General Mills stock traded up $0.58 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $66.18. The stock had a trading volume of 432,204 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,885,997. The stock has a market cap of $36.74 billion, a PE ratio of 15.62, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills has a 12 month low of $61.47 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,184 shares in the company, valued at $2,700,411.92. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,555 shares of company stock worth $4,721,336 over the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL boosted its position in General Mills by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 14,907 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after buying an additional 1,267 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 28.6% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 45,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,323,000 after acquiring an additional 10,000 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.7% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 438,014 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,025,000 after purchasing an additional 2,842 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in General Mills by 72.6% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 517,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,241,000 after purchasing an additional 217,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 29.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 53,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,939,000 after purchasing an additional 12,248 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.00.

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.