General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Receives $55.82 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $55.8235.

GIS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen raised General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded General Mills from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Garde Capital Inc. raised its holdings in General Mills by 101.5% in the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Davis Capital Management acquired a new position in General Mills in the third quarter valued at $29,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills during the first quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills during the first quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $47.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of -0.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.93. General Mills has a 12 month low of $45.80 and a 12 month high of $67.40.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 15.24%.General Mills’s revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.