General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04, Zacks reports. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $58.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 48,560,704 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,110,811. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $55.15 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The firm's 50 day moving average is $60.00 and its 200-day moving average is $65.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $32.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.53.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.