General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04, Zacks reports. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $60.33 on Wednesday. General Mills has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $33.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company’s 50 day moving average is $60.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GIS shares. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, General Mills has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.53.

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.