General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Shares Up 3.4% – What’s Next?

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) was up 3.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $63.73 and last traded at $64.19. Approximately 1,073,118 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 3,884,543 shares. The stock had previously closed at $62.07.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America decreased their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup dropped their price target on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.06.

General Mills Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $33.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $60.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.18.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in General Mills by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,376,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,508 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in General Mills by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $923,907,000 after purchasing an additional 136,895 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $581,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in General Mills by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $514,101,000 after buying an additional 1,253,483 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.