General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 21,180,000 shares, a growth of 8.6% from the November 15th total of 19,510,000 shares. Approximately 3.8% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,730,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.7 days.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of brokerages have recently commented on GIS. Barclays upped their target price on General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $73.00.
Read Our Latest Research Report on GIS
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,700,411.92. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 67,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,721,336. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills
Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of General Mills by 9.4% in 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 during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 100.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company's stock valued at $299,138,000 after buying an additional 2,368,563 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 6,140.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company's stock worth $59,807,000 after buying an additional 930,271 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 6,114.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 450,451 shares of the company's stock worth $33,266,000 after acquiring an additional 443,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company's stock valued at $356,151,000 after acquiring an additional 323,090 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.
General Mills Trading Up 0.5 %
Shares of GIS stock traded up $0.32 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $65.92. 6,007,388 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,909,533. General Mills has a 52-week low of $61.47 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $66.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39.
General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
General Mills Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.14%.
About General Mills
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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