General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Shares Gap Down to $74.50

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $74.50, but opened at $72.25. General Mills shares last traded at $73.86, with a volume of 821,114 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on GIS. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Barclays cut their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.60.

General Mills Trading Up 0.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $41.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The business’s fifty day moving average is $69.21 and its 200 day moving average is $68.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. Equities analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 55.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,219,113,000 after purchasing an additional 8,444,312 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth about $377,205,000. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 22.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $955,118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 100.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in General Mills by 6,140.4% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,807,000 after purchasing an additional 930,271 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.