General Mills’ (GIS) “Sector Perform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reiterated their sector perform rating on shares of General Mills (NYSE:GIS) in a research note released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $70.00 price objective on the stock.

GIS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays increased their target price on General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.56.

General Mills Stock Down 0.6 %

GIS opened at $63.61 on Thursday. General Mills has a 12 month low of $61.47 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $66.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.11. The company has a market cap of $35.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 65,230 shares of company stock valued at $4,547,822 in the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its stake in General Mills by 41.8% in the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 36,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,309,000 after purchasing an additional 10,765 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 43,086 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 104,436 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 74,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 6.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,206,000 after purchasing an additional 69,902 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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.