General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Shares Gap Down to $74.50

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) gapped down before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $74.50, but opened at $72.25. General Mills shares last traded at $73.86, with a volume of 821,114 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.60.

General Mills Trading Up 0.5 %

The company has a 50 day moving average of $69.21 and a 200 day moving average of $68.35. The firm has a market cap of $41.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Arkadios Wealth Advisors lifted its position in General Mills by 41.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 36,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,309,000 after buying an additional 10,765 shares in the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $1,171,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.8% during the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 688,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,177,000 after acquiring an additional 38,021 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 16.1% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 696,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,711,000 after acquiring an additional 96,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA raised its holdings in General Mills by 164.1% during the 4th quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 18,182 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 11,298 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

About General Mills

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.