Analysts Set General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Target Price at $55.82

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $55.8235.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 26th.

General Mills Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE GIS opened at $48.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of -0.03. General Mills has a 52-week low of $47.48 and a 52-week high of $70.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.12%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares in the company, valued at $3,332,313.72. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Garde Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 101.5% in the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Pingora Partners LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 416.7% in the first quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About General Mills

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.