General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Shares Down 4.4% – What’s Next?

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) traded down 4.4% on Thursday . The company traded as low as $38.65 and last traded at $38.7810. 4,395,283 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 9,346,598 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.58.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of General Mills from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of General Mills from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, UBS Group set a $33.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $39.37.

General Mills Trading Down 4.1%

The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market cap of $20.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -216.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of -0.01. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.29.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 1st. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.15. General Mills had a negative net margin of 0.48% and a positive return on equity of 21.37%. The company had revenue of $4.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. General Mills has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.000-3.200 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.06 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,355.56%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,181,608,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,717,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,700,060,000 after buying an additional 145,701 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in General Mills by 4,324.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 33,413,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,162,790,000 after buying an additional 32,658,249 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in General Mills by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,697,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $915,953,000 after acquiring an additional 488,617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,197,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $704,170,000 after acquiring an additional 172,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company’s portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.