General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.01 EPS

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) released its earnings results on Wednesday. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE:GIS traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $74.51. 9,105,188 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,993,991. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. General Mills has a 1 year low of $60.33 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $41.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.44.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 55.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three 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 $72.73.

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.