General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Short Interest Update

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,420,000 shares, a drop of 6.2% from the January 15th total of 23,910,000 shares. Approximately 4.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,420,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.1 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,376,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $923,907,000 after purchasing an additional 136,895 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $581,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company's stock valued at $514,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,483 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

General Mills Trading Up 3.1 %

NYSE:GIS traded up $1.83 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $61.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,218,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,668,790. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.56. General Mills has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills's payout ratio is 52.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GIS. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $69.88.

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.