General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Rating Increased to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills (NYSE:GIS) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. Bank of America currently has $80.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $78.00.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of 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 increased their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.00.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $66.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $37.02 billion, a PE ratio of 15.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. 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 fifty day moving average of $67.20 and a 200-day moving average of $68.20. General Mills has a one year low of $61.47 and a one year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The company had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 57.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,555 shares of company stock worth $4,721,336 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its holdings in General Mills by 9.4% in 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 lifted its position in General Mills by 6.1% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,151,000 after purchasing an additional 323,090 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in General Mills by 2.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,478,000 after buying an additional 148,235 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 100.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,138,000 after buying an additional 2,368,563 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake 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 valued at $282,347,000 after buying an additional 263,188 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 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.