Brokerages Set General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Target Price at $71.31

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $71.31.

A number of analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. TD Cowen cut their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS stock opened at $58.51 on Monday. The business's 50-day moving average is $64.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills has a 1 year low of $58.27 and a 1 year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills's payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 value of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,624 shares of company stock valued at $3,897,326 over the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 22.1% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company's stock worth $17,565,000 after buying an additional 43,086 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company's stock worth $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 129.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company's stock worth $13,649,000 after acquiring an additional 104,436 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company's stock worth $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 105.8% in the 3rd 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. 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.