General Mills, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.60 (NYSE:GIS)

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 24th, NASDAQ reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of 0.60 per share on Friday, November 1st. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th.

General Mills has raised its dividend by an average of 4.5% annually over the last three years. General Mills has a dividend payout ratio of 50.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect General Mills to earn $4.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.2%.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $73.76 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. General Mills has a twelve month low of $60.33 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The company has a fifty day moving average of $70.36 and a 200-day moving average of $68.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares in the company, valued at $2,700,411.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup lifted their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America increased their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.73.

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.