Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Stock Price

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price lowered by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $70.00 to $68.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 6.90% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup boosted their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.56.

General Mills Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $63.61 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.11. General Mills has a 1 year low of $61.47 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39.

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 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 company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total transaction of $576,156.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,055,870.64. This represents a 35.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,230 shares of company stock valued at $4,547,822 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its stake in General Mills by 41.8% in the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 36,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,309,000 after buying an additional 10,765 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,565,000 after acquiring an additional 43,086 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 129.9% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after purchasing an additional 104,436 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 105.8% during the third quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 144,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,697,000 after purchasing an additional 74,456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 6.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,206,000 after purchasing an additional 69,902 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently 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 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.