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

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $70.00 to $68.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup upped their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.94.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS stock opened at $64.01 on Thursday. General Mills has a 1 year low of $61.47 and a 1 year 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 stock has a market cap of $35.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.14.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. General Mills’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors 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 yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were 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 owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 65,230 shares of company stock worth $4,547,822. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the third quarter valued at $27,000. First Foundation Advisors raised its stake 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 in the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in General Mills by 61.5% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 46.7% in 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 last quarter. 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.