General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Lowered to $78.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) had its price target trimmed by Stifel Nicolaus from $82.00 to $78.00 in a report issued on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.94.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of General Mills stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $64.01. The company had a trading volume of 6,138,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,956,828. The stock has a market cap of $35.54 billion, a PE ratio of 15.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills has a 1-year low of $61.47 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $66.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.17. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $5.24 billion for 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills's payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the business's 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 approximately $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 67,555 shares of company stock worth $4,721,336. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills during the 2nd quarter worth about $47,000. &PARTNERS raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 39.0% during the second quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 23,070 shares of the company's stock worth $1,459,000 after buying an additional 6,475 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 5.0% in the second quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company's stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 10.7% in the second quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the company's stock valued at $200,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Bridge Advisors grew its holdings in General Mills by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 4,730 shares of the company's stock worth $299,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. 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.