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

General Mills (NYSE:GIS)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $70.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 9.12% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on GIS. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.06.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.15. The company had a trading volume of 926,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,108,237. General Mills has a 1 year low of $60.33 and a 1 year high of $78.88. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $36.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.80.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.84% and a net margin of 12.66%. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Operose Advisors LLC grew its holdings in General Mills by 214.1% during the 3rd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 142.6% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 142,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,096,000 after acquiring an additional 83,565 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the third quarter valued at $428,000. Corton Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the third quarter valued at $228,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.9% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 342,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,935,000 after buying an additional 19,209 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.