General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.73.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GIS. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of General Mills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $53.13 on Monday. General Mills has a 52-week low of $50.19 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.82 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $53.93 and a 200-day moving average of $57.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.59%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.54%.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Perkins Coie Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 69.2% in the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 516 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 101.5% during the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.