General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Receives “Sector Perform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of General Mills (NYSE:GIS) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $70.00 target price on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on GIS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.53.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $59.23 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $32.65 billion, a PE ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills has a 1-year low of $55.15 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $60.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.42.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. Research analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.05%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 217,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,885,000 after purchasing an additional 52,262 shares in the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 212,715 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,565,000 after purchasing an additional 5,070 shares in the last quarter. Aegis Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $271,000. Probity Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 14,004 shares of the company’s stock worth $893,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its position in shares of General Mills by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 27,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.