General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Lowered to $68.00 at Citigroup

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $71.00 to $68.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen raised their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised General Mills from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.72.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $63.71 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $68.76 and its 200 day moving average is $66.79. The firm has a market cap of $36.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66. General Mills has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $78.88.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.84% and a net margin of 12.66%. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research 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 given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. 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. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value of $50,104.70. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,227,706.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Operose Advisors LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 214.1% in the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted 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 worth $9,096,000 after buying an additional 83,565 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $428,000. Corton Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $228,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position 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 worth $21,935,000 after acquiring an additional 19,209 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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.