General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Hits New 12-Month Low After Analyst Downgrade

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Monday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $46.00 to $43.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. General Mills traded as low as $39.13 and last traded at $38.9770, with a volume of 1518718 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $39.38.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded General Mills from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday. Bank of America downgraded shares of General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Evercore set a $45.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. UBS Group reissued a “sell” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $48.94.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.15, for a total value of $72,225.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 48,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,338,549.20. This represents a 3.00% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Austin Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Austin Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 5,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $273,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Smith Moore & CO. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 2.6% during the third quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 8,785 shares of the company’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC now owns 12,153 shares of the company’s stock worth $565,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allegheny Financial Group increased its holdings in General Mills by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Allegheny Financial Group now owns 4,904 shares of the company’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $44.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.35 and a beta of -0.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 17th. The company reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.07. General Mills had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 13.51%.The company had revenue of $4.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.40 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. General Mills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.580-3.790 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.47%.

General Mills Company Profile

General Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company’s portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.