General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Stock Price Up 2.4% – What’s Next?

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) shot up 2.4% on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $34.15 and last traded at $32.8650. 13,641,794 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 42% from the average daily volume of 9,613,980 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.11.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GIS. Zacks Research raised shares of General Mills from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $35.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered General Mills from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $36.59.

General Mills Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $17.71 billion, a PE ratio of -19.95, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.68.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 23rd. The company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.03. General Mills had a negative net margin of 4.89% and a positive return on equity of 21.86%. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.35 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 13th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.4%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is -146.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,019,000. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. lifted its stake in General Mills by 14.1% in the third quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 82,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,642,000 after acquiring an additional 10,166 shares during the last quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 0.6% in the third quarter. Kintegral Advisory LLC now owns 100,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,247,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,978,000. Finally, Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,569 shares of the company’s stock worth $533,000 after acquiring an additional 1,880 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc is a global food company that manufactures and markets branded consumer foods. Its products include cereal, snack bars, refrigerated dough, baking mixes, yogurt, soup, meals, frozen foods, and pet food, serving retail, foodservice, and pet channels.

The company’s portfolio includes well-known brands such as Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Nature Valley, Yoplait, Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Progresso, Totino’s, Annie’s, and Blue Buffalo. General Mills sells its products primarily in the United States and also serves consumers in international markets across multiple regions.

General Mills traces its history to the Minneapolis Milling Company, established in 1856, and adopted the General Mills name following a 1928 combination of several milling businesses.