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

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $65.00.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. Bank of America reduced their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a "sell" rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 2.3% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 776,809 shares of the company's stock worth $46,445,000 after purchasing an additional 17,289 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 126.1% in the 1st quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 62,712 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,521,000 after acquiring an additional 34,973 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at about $402,000. Kanawha Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 17.1% in the 1st quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 3,704 shares of the company's stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at about $152,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS traded down $0.36 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $55.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,565,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,402,432. The company has a market capitalization of $30.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The company's fifty day moving average price is $59.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $62.16. General Mills has a 52-week low of $55.15 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. General Mills's revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.75%.

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.