General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Sets New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report)'s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from a hold rating to a sell rating. The company traded as low as $51.70 and last traded at $51.83, with a volume of 316537 shares. The stock had previously closed at $53.41.

GIS has been the topic of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of 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 report on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Three 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. According to MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $60.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at $1,315,000. Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of General Mills by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 584,335 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,937,000 after buying an additional 41,394 shares during the last quarter. 1248 Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at $96,000. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC now owns 68,897 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,119,000 after buying an additional 6,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,075 shares of the company's stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock's 50-day moving average is $54.34 and its 200 day moving average is $58.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.84 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.02.

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

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This is an increase from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. 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.