General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.60

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of 0.60 per share on Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th.

General Mills has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.4% annually over the last three years. General Mills has a payout ratio of 49.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect General Mills to earn $4.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.3%.

General Mills Stock Up 0.2 %

GIS opened at $59.94 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $57.94 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The company’s 50-day moving average is $63.23 and its 200 day moving average is $67.42.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business 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 posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the sale, the director now 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. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the topic of several research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.94.

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.