General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of General Mills (NYSE:GIS – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on GIS. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on General Mills from $88.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, December 15th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on General Mills in a research report on Tuesday, January 3rd. They set an equal weight rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Wednesday, December 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on General Mills from $73.00 to $69.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on General Mills from $82.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $82.94.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $79.79 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.58. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $61.67 and a fifty-two week high of $88.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.28. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.91.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, December 20th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.09% and a net margin of 15.02%. The business had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.15 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 10th will be paid a $0.54 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 6th. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.09%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Sean N. Walker sold 27,157 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.87, for a total value of $2,304,814.59. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 90,975 shares in the company, valued at $7,721,048.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other General Mills news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 10,894 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.49, for a total transaction of $920,434.06. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 82,784 shares in the company, valued at $6,994,420.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sean N. Walker sold 27,157 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.87, for a total value of $2,304,814.59. Following the sale, the insider now owns 90,975 shares in the company, valued at $7,721,048.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 40,006 shares of company stock worth $3,393,359 over the last three months. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FWL Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. James Investment Research Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the third quarter worth $28,000. Capital Analysts LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 95.0% in the second quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 390 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AXS Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. 74.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Company Profile

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General Mills, Inc engages in the manufacture and marketing of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. The firm operates through the following segments: North America Retail, Europe & Australia, Convenience Stores & Foodservice, Pet, and Asia & Latin America. The North America Retail segment includes grocery stores, mass merchandisers, membership stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains and e-commerce grocery providers.