General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have issued a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.73.

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays reduced their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Mizuho reduced their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Bank of America dropped their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in General Mills by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company's stock worth $4,376,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 434.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,138,473,000 after purchasing an additional 15,480,835 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $923,907,000 after purchasing an additional 136,895 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 8.1% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,864,819 shares of the company's stock valued at $589,814,000 after purchasing an additional 741,432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company's stock worth $514,101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,483 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS traded down $1.36 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $51.79. 8,130,036 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,666,410. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $53.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.09 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63. General Mills has a twelve month low of $50.19 and a twelve month high of $75.90. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. General Mills's revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.71%. This is a boost from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is 58.54%.

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.