General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Cut to $78.00 by Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $82.00 to $78.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.94.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock opened at $64.01 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.14. General Mills has a 12 month low of $61.47 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $35.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.24, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $717,640.33. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 128,664 shares in the company, valued at $9,571,314.96. This trade represents a 6.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total transaction of $576,156.24. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,055,870.64. The trade was a 35.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 65,230 shares of company stock worth $4,547,822 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. First Foundation Advisors increased its position in shares of General Mills by 400.0% in the second quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 61.5% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Mills during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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.