General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Lowered to $72.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price objective decreased by equities researchers at Stifel Nicolaus from $78.00 to $72.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 19.95% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on GIS. Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price 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. 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.94.

General Mills Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE GIS traded up $0.46 on Friday, hitting $60.02. The stock had a trading volume of 521,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,295,149. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $63.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. General Mills has a 52-week low of $57.94 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $33.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, 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 owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in General Mills by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,151,000 after buying an additional 323,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in General Mills by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,347,000 after buying an additional 263,188 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.