General Mills, Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.60 (NYSE:GIS)

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of 0.60 per share on Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%.

General Mills has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.3% annually over the last three years. General Mills has a payout ratio of 49.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect General Mills to earn $4.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.3%.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock traded down $1.80 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.84. 3,885,162 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,507,897. General Mills has a 12-month low of $57.94 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $63.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.44. The company has a market cap of $32.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.01, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business's revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $70.94.

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.