General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Receives $69.71 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.71.

A number of analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays lowered their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS stock opened at $70.66 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $66.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $39.44 billion, a PE ratio of 16.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.09. General Mills has a 1-year low of $60.33 and a 1-year high of $74.45.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a $0.60 dividend. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of General Mills by 1.4% in the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 10,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 0.8% in the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 17,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in shares of General Mills by 4.9% in the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp grew its position in shares of General Mills by 40.6% in the first quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.0% in the second quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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.