General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Receives $72.18 Average Target Price from Brokerages

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.18.

Several research firms have recently commented on GIS. Mizuho boosted their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup began coverage on General Mills in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. TD Cowen boosted their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS opened at $67.31 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $66.43 and a 200 day moving average of $65.17. General Mills has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $90.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $38.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.15.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.12. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.84% and a net margin of 12.66%. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 54.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.44, for a total value of $3,870,008.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,483 shares in the company, valued at $20,523,044.52. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.44, for a total value of $3,870,008.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,523,044.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 7,671 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.15, for a total transaction of $492,094.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,924 shares in the company, valued at $6,602,574.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,782 shares of company stock worth $5,057,820 over the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GIS. IHT Wealth Management LLC raised its position in General Mills by 2.2% during the first quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $551,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. L.M. Kohn & Company raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.6% in the third quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 6,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $386,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Traverso Chambers Private Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Traverso Chambers Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TrueWealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4.3% in the third quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $246,000 after buying an additional 158 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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.