Stifel Nicolaus Lowers General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $72.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price objective trimmed by Stifel Nicolaus from $78.00 to $72.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.94.

General Mills Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE GIS opened at $60.37 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $63.31 and a 200 day moving average of $67.42. The company has a market capitalization of $33.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. General Mills has a 1 year low of $57.94 and a 1 year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 3,504.8% during the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,023,000 after buying an additional 2,104,353 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 6,114.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 450,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,266,000 after buying an additional 443,202 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Company Profile

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.