General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Lowered to $68.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $70.00 to $68.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.94.

General Mills Trading Up 0.2 %

General Mills stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.01. The stock had a trading volume of 6,138,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,956,828. General Mills has a twelve month low of $61.47 and a twelve month high of $75.90. 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 cap of $35.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.24, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $66.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.14.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued 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 3.75%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.14%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm's 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 $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company's 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 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 67,555 shares of company stock worth $4,721,336. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company's stock worth $999,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its stake in General Mills by 4.9% during the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,261 shares of the company's stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Secure Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in General Mills by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company's stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 8,521 shares of the company's stock worth $539,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company's stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. 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.