General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by Bank of America

Bank of America downgraded shares of General Mills (NYSE:GIS) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Bank of America currently has $48.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on GIS. TD Cowen cut their price objective on General Mills from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group set a $46.00 price target on General Mills in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research downgraded General Mills from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings lowered General Mills from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and four have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.42.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $45.36 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $46.04 and a 200 day moving average of $47.62. The firm has a market cap of $24.20 billion, a PE ratio of 9.76 and a beta of -0.06. General Mills has a one year low of $42.78 and a one year high of $67.35.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 17th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $4.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.78 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.51% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The company’s revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.40 earnings per share. General Mills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.580-3.790 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 52.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.15, for a total value of $72,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 48,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,338,549.20. This represents a 3.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 2nd quarter valued at about $417,508,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 2,970.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,466,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,201,000 after acquiring an additional 7,223,487 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 366.1% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,117,287 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,954,000 after acquiring an additional 4,019,319 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $84,862,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 61.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,141,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $192,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,444 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company’s portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.