General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Short Interest Update

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) saw a significant growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 19,510,000 shares, a growth of 5.2% from the October 31st total of 18,550,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,730,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days. Approximately 3.5% of the company’s stock are short sold.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE GIS traded down $0.44 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $66.57. 2,144,031 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,893,693. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $68.78 and a 200-day moving average of $68.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. General Mills has a one year low of $61.47 and a one year high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $36.96 billion, a PE ratio of 15.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,721,336 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of General Mills by 41.8% during the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 36,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,309,000 after acquiring an additional 10,765 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in General Mills by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,565,000 after purchasing an additional 43,086 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 129.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after purchasing an additional 104,436 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 105.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 144,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,697,000 after purchasing an additional 74,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,206,000 after buying an additional 69,902 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on GIS. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on General Mills in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.67.

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.