General Mills’ (GIS) “Sector Perform” Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

General Mills (NYSE:GIS)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating restated by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $70.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 8.39% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on GIS. Citigroup lifted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays increased their target price on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.75.

General Mills Stock Up 1.0 %

GIS traded up $0.67 during trading on Thursday, hitting $64.58. The company had a trading volume of 1,198,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,935,719. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39. General Mills has a 1-year low of $61.47 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $66.76 and a 200-day moving average of $68.17. The company has a market cap of $35.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The company 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 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,555 shares of company stock worth $4,721,336 over the last quarter. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in General Mills during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. First Foundation Advisors lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills during the second quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. 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.