General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on the stock from $83.00 to $82.00. The stock had previously closed at $65.93, but opened at $63.10. General Mills shares last traded at $64.41, with a volume of 2,702,632 shares changing hands.

GIS has been the topic of several other research reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $717,640.33. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 128,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,571,314.96. The trade was a 6.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,555 shares of company stock worth $4,721,336 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in General Mills by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in General Mills by 6.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,151,000 after purchasing an additional 323,090 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in General Mills by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,478,000 after purchasing an additional 148,235 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in General Mills by 100.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of General Mills by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,347,000 after buying an additional 263,188 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $66.93 and its 200 day moving average is $68.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $35.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.14%.

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.