General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Stock Has Average Target Price of $36.59 According to Analysts

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has received an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, ten have given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.59.

GIS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of General Mills from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on General Mills from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. UBS Group restated a “sell” rating on shares of General Mills in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Zacks Research raised General Mills from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. CX Institutional boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 5,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. Talon Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in General Mills in the second quarter worth about $211,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in General Mills by 2.1% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 299,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,405,000 after buying an additional 6,098 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 38.7% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 36,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,263,000 after buying an additional 10,132 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 52.6% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 127,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,438,000 after acquiring an additional 43,958 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock opened at $32.05 on Wednesday. General Mills has a 52-week low of $31.17 and a 52-week high of $51.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.25 and a 200-day moving average of $36.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.31, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

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

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 13th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 13th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently -146.99%.

General Mills Company Profile

General Mills, Inc is a global food company that manufactures and markets branded consumer foods. Its products include cereal, snack bars, refrigerated dough, baking mixes, yogurt, soup, meals, frozen foods, and pet food, serving retail, foodservice, and pet channels.

The company’s portfolio includes well-known brands such as Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Nature Valley, Yoplait, Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Progresso, Totino’s, Annie’s, and Blue Buffalo. General Mills sells its products primarily in the United States and also serves consumers in international markets across multiple regions.

General Mills traces its history to the Minneapolis Milling Company, established in 1856, and adopted the General Mills name following a 1928 combination of several milling businesses.