Stifel Nicolaus Lowers General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $78.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price reduced by Stifel Nicolaus from $82.00 to $78.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price target suggests a potential upside of 22.62% from the company’s current price.

GIS has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup raised their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.56.

General Mills Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $63.61 on Thursday. General Mills has a 52-week low of $61.47 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $35.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $66.47 and its 200-day moving average is $68.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new position in General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. First Foundation Advisors increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 400.0% during the second quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 61.5% in the 3rd 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 acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.