Barclays Cuts General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $68.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price decreased by Barclays from $74.00 to $68.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

GIS has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.56.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS opened at $63.61 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $66.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.11. General Mills has a 1 year low of $61.47 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $35.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,151,000 after purchasing an additional 323,090 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of General Mills by 2.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,478,000 after purchasing an additional 148,235 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 100.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,563 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of General Mills by 7.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,347,000 after acquiring an additional 263,188 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is 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.