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

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $82.00 to $78.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on GIS. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Citigroup increased their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.56.

General Mills Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $63.61 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $66.47 and a 200-day moving average of $68.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm has a market cap of $35.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills has a twelve month low of $61.47 and a twelve month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly 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. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.14%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the company’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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total value of $576,156.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,055,870.64. The trade was a 35.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,230 shares of company stock valued at $4,547,822 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills during the second quarter valued at about $47,000. &PARTNERS lifted its holdings 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 grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.0% in the second quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in General Mills by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $200,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Bridge Advisors raised its position in shares of General Mills by 9.2% during the second quarter. Tower Bridge Advisors now owns 4,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during 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.