Brokerages Set General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) PT at $72.18

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $72.18.

A number of analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $72.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. TD Cowen raised their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on General Mills from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, HSBC raised their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $70.41 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company has a market capitalization of $39.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.15, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.15. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $66.85 and a 200 day moving average of $65.30. General Mills has a 12 month low of $60.33 and a 12 month high of $90.89.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.97 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.84% and a net margin of 12.66%. General Mills’s revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 54.13%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.44, for a total transaction of $3,870,008.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 318,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,523,044.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.44, for a total transaction of $3,870,008.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 318,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,523,044.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 7,671 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.15, for a total value of $492,094.65. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,602,574.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 77,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,057,820. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Operose Advisors LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 214.1% during the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Intrepid Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.