General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Shares Down 4.4% – Should You Sell?

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)’s share price traded down 4.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $38.65 and last traded at $38.7810. Approximately 4,395,283 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average daily volume of 9,346,598 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.58.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. TD Cowen dropped their price target on General Mills from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on General Mills from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered General Mills from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $31.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on General Mills from $37.00 to $32.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $39.37.

General Mills Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -213.10, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of -0.01. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.85 and its 200-day moving average is $37.24.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 1st. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.15. General Mills had a negative net margin of 0.48% and a positive return on equity of 21.37%. The business had revenue of $4.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. General Mills’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. General Mills has set its FY 2027 guidance at 3.000-3.200 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.06 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.4%. General Mills’s payout ratio is -1,355.56%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 2nd quarter worth $2,181,608,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in shares of General Mills by 4,324.2% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 33,413,498 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,162,790,000 after buying an additional 32,658,249 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at about $361,552,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 2,970.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,466,693 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,201,000 after buying an additional 7,223,487 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 366.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,117,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,954,000 after buying an additional 4,019,319 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Company Profile

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.