Wells Fargo & Company Trims General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Target Price to $67.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price objective lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $70.00 to $67.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Mizuho raised their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America raised their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised General Mills from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and lifted their target price for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.44.

General Mills Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of GIS opened at $63.26 on Thursday. General Mills has a 1 year low of $60.33 and a 1 year high of $77.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.75. The stock has a market cap of $35.31 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.12.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its 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. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 55.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Operose Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 214.1% in the 3rd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 142.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 142,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,096,000 after purchasing an additional 83,565 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at about $428,000. Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at about $228,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 342,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,935,000 after purchasing an additional 19,209 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.