General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Receives Buy Rating from Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus restated their buy rating on shares of General Mills (NYSE:GIS) in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $77.00 target price on the stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on GIS. Bank of America upped their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays raised their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup assumed coverage on General Mills in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a neutral rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and set a $72.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $72.18.

General Mills Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $71.38 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $67.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.53. The company has a market cap of $40.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. General Mills has a 1 year low of $60.33 and a 1 year high of $90.89.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.12. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.84% and a net margin of 12.66%. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.31%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.13%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.21, for a total transaction of $692,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 93,381 shares in the company, valued at $6,462,899.01. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 17,726 shares of company stock worth $1,187,811 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of General Mills by 0.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,242,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,423,000 after acquiring an additional 23,400 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in General Mills by 5.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,995,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $511,608,000 after purchasing an additional 379,702 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 0.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,527,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $468,346,000 after purchasing an additional 44,933 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in General Mills by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,858,000 after purchasing an additional 501,717 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $377,205,000. Institutional investors 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.