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

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

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen raised their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, 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. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.94.

General Mills Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of GIS opened at $64.01 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $61.47 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $66.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.14. 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.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $717,640.33. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 128,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,571,314.96. This represents a 6.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of General Mills 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 $24,379,054.08. This trade 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 65,230 shares of company stock worth $4,547,822. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the second quarter valued at $47,000. &PARTNERS raised its position in General Mills by 39.0% in the 2nd 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 boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 5.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 10.7% during the 2nd 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 stake in shares of General Mills by 9.2% in the second 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.