General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Short Interest Up 8.6% in November

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) saw a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 21,180,000 shares, an increase of 8.6% from the November 15th total of 19,510,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,730,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.7 days. Approximately 3.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $65.93. The stock had a trading volume of 5,979,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,909,390. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market cap of $36.60 billion, a PE ratio of 15.62, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills has a one year low of $61.47 and a one year high of $75.90. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.22.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly 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. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,721,336 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 14,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 45,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,323,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 438,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,000 after purchasing an additional 2,842 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in General Mills by 72.6% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 517,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,241,000 after acquiring an additional 217,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 29.8% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 53,335 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,939,000 after acquiring an additional 12,248 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup increased their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have issued 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 $73.00.

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.