General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Sets New 12-Month Low – Time to Sell?

by · The Cerbat Gem

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS – Get Free Report)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $31.62 and last traded at $31.5330, with a volume of 926421 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $32.16.

Key Headlines Impacting General Mills

Here are the key news stories impacting General Mills this week:

  • Positive Sentiment: General Mills maintained its quarterly dividend at $0.61 per share, payable November 2 to shareholders of record October 13. The annualized payout is $2.44 per share, representing an attractive yield of roughly 7.6% at the indicated share price. The company and its predecessor have paid dividends continuously for 128 years. General Mills Quarterly Dividend Declared
  • Positive Sentiment: The appointment of longtime insider Dana McNabb could provide operational continuity. McNabb, currently chief operating officer and a 27-year General Mills veteran, will become CEO on January 1, 2027. General Mills names insider McNabb as CEO
  • Neutral Sentiment: Current CEO Jeff Harmening will become executive chair when McNabb takes over. The planned transition may preserve strategic knowledge, but investors will watch whether the new leadership can restore profitable growth. General Mills Announces Dana McNabb as Chief Executive Officer
  • Neutral Sentiment: Analysts’ consensus target price is reported at $36.59, implying potential upside from the current level, although the target does not resolve concerns about the company’s fundamentals. General Mills consensus target price
  • Negative Sentiment: Recent first-quarter results showed sales falling 2.8% year over year to about $4.39 billion, while net income dropped sharply to $397 million from $1.20 billion. Earnings per share declined to $0.74 from $2.22, reinforcing concerns about the difficult turnaround facing the incoming CEO. General Mills profit drop and completed buyback

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Evercore set a $38.00 price target on General Mills in a research report on Monday, September 14th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on General Mills from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised General Mills from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $36.59.

View Our Latest Research Report on GIS

General Mills Trading Down 2.3%

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $37.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.10. The firm has a market cap of $16.80 billion, a PE ratio of -18.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of -0.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 23rd. The company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.35 billion. General Mills had a negative net margin of 4.89% and a positive return on equity of 21.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.86 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 13th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 13th. General Mills’s payout ratio is -146.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,181,608,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in General Mills by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,672,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,344,000 after acquiring an additional 143,265 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,926,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,587,000 after purchasing an additional 935,679 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in General Mills by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 5,602,094 shares of the company’s stock worth $260,497,000 after purchasing an additional 16,984 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.4% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,200,299 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,335,000 after purchasing an additional 58,608 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About General Mills

(Get Free Report)

General Mills, Inc is a global food company that manufactures and markets branded consumer foods. Its products include cereal, snack bars, refrigerated dough, baking mixes, yogurt, soup, meals, frozen foods, and pet food, serving retail, foodservice, and pet channels.

The company’s portfolio includes well-known brands such as Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Nature Valley, Yoplait, Häagen-Dazs, Old El Paso, Progresso, Totino’s, Annie’s, and Blue Buffalo. General Mills sells its products primarily in the United States and also serves consumers in international markets across multiple regions.

General Mills traces its history to the Minneapolis Milling Company, established in 1856, and adopted the General Mills name following a 1928 combination of several milling businesses.

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