Brokerages Set General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Target Price at $43.56

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.4444.

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America downgraded General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Evercore set a $45.00 price target on General Mills in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays decreased their price target on General Mills from $46.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 16th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on General Mills from $53.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on General Mills from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 19th.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its position in General Mills by 255.8% in the 3rd quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 59,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,015,000 after acquiring an additional 42,986 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,320,000. Korea Investment CORP lifted its position in General Mills by 161.9% in the 3rd quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 333,199 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,800,000 after acquiring an additional 205,981 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in General Mills by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 346,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,445,000 after acquiring an additional 24,688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in General Mills by 2,806.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 762,517 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,457,000 after acquiring an additional 736,283 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $34.72 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $41.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.00. General Mills has a 1-year low of $34.04 and a 1-year high of $59.06. The company has a market cap of $18.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 0.01.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.09). General Mills had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 12.05%.The business had revenue of $4.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.0%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.66%.

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.