General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for 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 was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 EPS.

General Mills Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of GIS opened at $58.31 on Friday. General Mills has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $32.14 billion, a PE ratio of 12.68, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $59.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.37.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on GIS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho reduced their price target on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.76.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.