General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from 19 analysts, with two analysts rating it a sell, thirteen a hold, and four a buy.
• The company recently reported earnings of $0.86 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations of $0.82, although revenue decreased by 6.8% compared to the previous year.
• General Mills announced a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, reflecting an annualized payout of $2.44 and a dividend yield of around 5.0%.

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) have been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the nineteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.8235.

GIS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total transaction of $200,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 66,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,332,313.72. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the second quarter worth about $222,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 7.3% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 522,576 shares of the company's stock worth $31,245,000 after buying an additional 35,494 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 452,844 shares of the company's stock worth $27,076,000 after purchasing an additional 32,628 shares in the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,610,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its position in General Mills by 126.1% in the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 774,134 shares of the company's stock worth $46,285,000 after purchasing an additional 431,693 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $48.58 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $49.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. General Mills has a 52-week low of $47.71 and a 52-week high of $72.55. The company has a market cap of $25.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.18, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of -0.03.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. General Mills's payout ratio is 46.12%.

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.

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