General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Earns “Underweight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reaffirmed their underweight rating on shares of General Mills (NYSE:GIS) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $51.00 price objective on the stock, down from their prior price objective of $53.00.

GIS has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $61.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.50.

General Mills Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of GIS stock opened at $50.38 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.02. General Mills has a one year low of $50.24 and a one year high of $75.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $54.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The company’s revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.75%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 23,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,471,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 111.3% during the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 34,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,214,000 after purchasing an additional 18,289 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 150.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 653 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.