General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Receives $59.73 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Key Points

• General Mills has received an average consensus recommendation of "Hold" from analysts, with two sell ratings, nine holds, and four buys.
• In the latest round of earnings, the company reported $0.74 earnings per share, surpassing expectations by $0.02, but revenue decreased by 3.3% year-over-year.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.61, yielding approximately 5.0%, demonstrating commitment to returning value to shareholders.

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.73.

GIS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price objective on General Mills and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered General Mills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded down $0.04 on Friday, hitting $48.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,271,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,488,978. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.26. General Mills has a 1 year low of $48.59 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $26.55 billion and a PE ratio of 11.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The company's revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $0.61 dividend. This is an increase from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Perkins Coie Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 69.2% in the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 516 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the period. Garde Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 101.5% in the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 524 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the period. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

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.