Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on General Mills (NYSE:GIS)

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 10,604 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 141% compared to the average daily volume of 4,398 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GIS shares. Mizuho lowered their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays lowered their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.13.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Down 2.2 %

NYSE:GIS traded down $1.32 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.53. The company had a trading volume of 8,365,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,732,294. General Mills has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.51, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.81.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

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.