General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Short Interest Update

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,470,000 shares, a decrease of 5.5% from the December 15th total of 23,790,000 shares. Approximately 4.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 3,980,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.6 days.

General Mills Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of GIS opened at $59.64 on Monday. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $57.94 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.76 and a 200 day moving average of $67.52. The firm has a market cap of $32.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.42 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible 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 value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170 over the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 61.5% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Mills during the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.31.

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.