Stifel Nicolaus Has Lowered Expectations for General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Stock Price

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) had its price target decreased by Stifel Nicolaus from $72.00 to $65.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock.

GIS has been the topic of several other reports. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective 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 decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One equities research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $69.88.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS stock traded up $1.83 on Wednesday, hitting $61.02. The company had a trading volume of 5,107,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,609,214. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills has a 12-month low of $55.15 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $33.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.10. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $61.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.61.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $55,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in General Mills by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 479,939 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,606,000 after buying an additional 22,668 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in General Mills by 44.7% during the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,832 shares of the company's stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 2,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,193,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

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.