General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Hits New 1-Year Low – Time to Sell?

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $36.76 and last traded at $37.1360, with a volume of 1441540 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $37.01.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on General Mills from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings cut General Mills from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of General Mills from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $45.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $44.61.

General Mills Trading Up 1.1%

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $44.38 and a 200-day moving average of $46.61. The company has a market capitalization of $19.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.14 and a beta of -0.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $4.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 12.05%.The company’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Friday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.5%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.66%.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $417,508,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2,970.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,466,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $347,201,000 after acquiring an additional 7,223,487 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 366.1% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,117,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $237,954,000 after acquiring an additional 4,019,319 shares during the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $84,862,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 61.3% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,141,691 shares of the company’s stock valued at $192,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573,444 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About General Mills

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.