General Mills (NYSE:GIS) PT Lowered 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 note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

GIS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded General Mills from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $70.44.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS opened at $63.26 on Thursday. General Mills has a 12-month low of $60.33 and a 12-month high of $77.63. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.74. The company has a market capitalization of $35.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s payout ratio is 54.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value of $50,104.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Optimist Retirement Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $1,171,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 122.7% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after purchasing an additional 13,043 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sabal Trust CO raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 7,817.6% during the fourth quarter. Sabal Trust CO now owns 290,179 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,902,000 after acquiring an additional 286,514 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is 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.