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

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

A number of other analysts have also commented on GIS. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.94.

General Mills Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of GIS opened at $64.01 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.54 billion, a PE ratio of 15.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills has a 12-month low of $61.47 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 57.14%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $717,640.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 128,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,571,314.96. This trade represents a 6.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,230 shares of company stock valued at $4,547,822 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 41.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 36,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,309,000 after buying an additional 10,765 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in General Mills by 22.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 129.9% in the third 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 last quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of 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 period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,206,000 after acquiring an additional 69,902 shares during the period. 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.