General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Shares Cross Above 50 Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) shares crossed above its 50-day moving average during trading on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $35.08 and traded as high as $36.58. General Mills shares last traded at $35.8890, with a volume of 12,677,176 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GIS. Weiss Ratings raised shares of General Mills from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of General Mills from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $35.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of General Mills from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $36.59.

General Mills Stock Down 2.7%

The firm has a market cap of $18.96 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $34.91 and a 200-day moving average of $37.37.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 23rd. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.35 billion. General Mills had a positive return on equity of 21.86% and a negative net margin of 4.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.86 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 13th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 13th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.9%. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently -146.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,181,608,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,672,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,344,000 after purchasing an additional 143,265 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.4% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,200,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,335,000 after buying an additional 58,608 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 41.0% during the second quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 4,140,772 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,099,000 after buying an additional 1,203,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 30.4% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,591,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,672,000 after acquiring an additional 836,286 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc is a global food company that manufactures and markets branded consumer foods. Its portfolio includes cereal, snack foods, refrigerated and baking products, yogurt, soup, meals, and pet food. The company’s brands include Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Yoplait, Old El Paso, Progresso, Annie’s, Totino’s, Häagen-Dazs, and Blue Buffalo.

General Mills sells products through grocery stores, mass merchandisers, convenience stores, e-commerce channels, restaurants, and other foodservice outlets.