General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Cut to $70.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price objective reduced by Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $70.00 in a research note published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Citigroup boosted their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America raised their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on General Mills in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.67.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS traded down $1.50 during trading on Friday, reaching $63.21. 6,785,130 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,905,717. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.11. 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.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. The business’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.14%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the 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 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 represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider now 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 66,555 shares of company stock worth $4,657,676. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in General Mills by 41.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 36,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,309,000 after purchasing an additional 10,765 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 22.1% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,565,000 after buying an additional 43,086 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 92.5% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,721 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,409,000 after buying an additional 23,411 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 129.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after buying an additional 104,436 shares during the period. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its stake in General Mills by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 119,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,535,000 after acquiring an additional 11,334 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.