General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Increases Dividend to $0.61 Per Share

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 25th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.61 per share on Friday, August 1st. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This is a 1.7% increase from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60.

General Mills has a dividend payout ratio of 57.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect General Mills to earn $4.46 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.8%.

General Mills Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded up $0.14 during trading on Friday, reaching $50.51. 9,005,253 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,616,611. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67. General Mills has a 12-month low of $50.19 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $27.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.02. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $54.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.36.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued 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 business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price target on General Mills and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $60.50.

General Mills Company Profile

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.