General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $71.56.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 66,271 shares of company stock valued at $4,614,966. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its holdings in General Mills by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. LCM Capital Management Inc boosted its position in General Mills by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 8,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in General Mills by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of GIS opened at $63.74 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $35.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66. General Mills has a 52 week low of $61.47 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.03.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

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.