General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Shares Down 8.1% – Here’s What Happened

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)’s stock price dropped 8.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $44.52 and last traded at $44.4030. Approximately 9,119,408 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 11% from the average daily volume of 8,220,015 shares. The stock had previously closed at $48.34.

Key Headlines Impacting General Mills

Here are the key news stories impacting General Mills this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Company reiterated progress on its long?term “Accelerate” strategy at the CAGNY conference — initiatives to boost brand remarkability and margin recovery could support medium?term growth. General Mills Outlines Progress on Accelerate Strategy at CAGNY Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Management presented at CAGNY (full transcript available) — helpful for investors wanting detail on assumptions behind the guidance change but not market?moving on its own. General Mills, Inc. (GIS) Presents at Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference 2026 Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Consensus broker coverage remains mixed (average “Hold”) — analysts are watching execution against the strategy and the recovery in consumer demand. General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages
• Negative Sentiment: Management cut FY?2026 organic net?sales guidance to down 1.5%–2% (from prior -1% to +1%) and reduced EPS guidance to $3.37–$3.54 vs. Street estimates (~$3.66), explicitly citing weaker consumer sentiment and more promotional activity — the primary catalyst for the share decline. General Mills cuts annual sales and profit forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Business press and market commentary emphasize the outlook hit and stock reaction; headlines note sizable downward revisions and investor sell pressure. Cheerios Parent General Mills Slashes Sales Outlook. Its Stock Is Plunging.
• Negative Sentiment: Unusual options activity: traders bought ~20,576 put contracts (?+226% vs. typical put volume), signaling elevated bearish bets/hedging that can magnify downside. (Options volume data reported in market updates.)
• Negative Sentiment: Company flagged elevated restructuring costs (~$165M) and noted volatility that will reduce expected net?sales growth — an additional near?term margin pressure risk. General Mills Issues Soft Outlook, Restructuring Costs Soar To $165 Million

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley set a $47.00 price target on General Mills and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $63.00 price target on shares of General Mills and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $56.00 to $52.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of General Mills from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $53.28.

General Mills Stock Down 7.1%

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $23.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.66 and a beta of -0.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 17th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.07. General Mills had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 13.51%.The business had revenue of $4.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.40 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. General Mills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.580-3.790 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.47%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.15, for a total value of $72,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 48,568 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,549.20. This represents a 3.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,346,225 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,592,828,000 after purchasing an additional 581,045 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of General Mills by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,717,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,700,060,000 after acquiring an additional 145,701 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,697,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $915,953,000 after acquiring an additional 488,617 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,197,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $704,170,000 after purchasing an additional 172,200 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in General Mills by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,956,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,548,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368,041 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Company Profile

General Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company’s portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.