General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Cut to $70.00 by Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price objective decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $77.00 to $70.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on GIS. HSBC lifted their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein raised General Mills from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $70.72.

General Mills Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $63.71 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.79. The company has a market cap of $36.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.12. General Mills has a 12 month low of $60.33 and a 12 month high of $78.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 26.84%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 54.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,227,706.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Operose Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 214.1% during the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in General Mills by 142.6% in the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 142,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,096,000 after acquiring an additional 83,565 shares during the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the third quarter worth about $428,000. Corton Capital Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth about $228,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 342,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,935,000 after purchasing an additional 19,209 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.