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

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day 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 changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $39.38.

GIS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on General Mills from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Bank of America downgraded General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $48.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on General Mills from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of General Mills from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $48.94.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,500 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.15, for a total value of $72,225.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 48,568 shares in the company, valued at $2,338,549.20. The trade was a 3.00% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in General Mills in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Reflection Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 139.8% during the 4th quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 578 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the period. Finally, Close Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.98 and its 200-day moving average is $47.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market cap of $20.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.35 and a beta of -0.05.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 17th. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.07. General Mills had a net margin of 13.51% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The firm had revenue of $4.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.78 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue was down 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. General Mills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.580-3.790 EPS. On average, analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

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

About General Mills

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.