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

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) had its price objective reduced by stock analysts at Barclays from $74.00 to $68.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the stock. Barclays's target price would indicate a potential upside of 6.90% from the stock's current price.

GIS has been the topic of several other reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.56.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS traded down $0.40 on Friday, hitting $63.61. 10,672,876 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,984,130. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $66.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.11. General Mills has a one year low of $61.47 and a one year high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $35.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The business's revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 65,230 shares of company stock valued at $4,547,822 in the last 90 days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. First Foundation Advisors increased its holdings in General Mills by 400.0% in the second quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 500 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in General Mills by 61.5% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in General Mills during the third quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 46.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 606 shares of the company's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. 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 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.