General Mills (NYSE:GIS) PT Lowered to $68.00 at Bank of America

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price objective lowered by Bank of America from $70.00 to $68.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on GIS. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded General Mills from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and raised their price target for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on General Mills from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two 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.com, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.44.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS opened at $63.26 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.75. 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 company has a market cap of $35.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.12. General Mills has a 12-month low of $60.33 and a 12-month high of $77.63.

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, beating 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 firm had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.68%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Operose Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 214.1% in the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the period. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 199.3% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 273 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 409.8% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 336 shares during the period. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 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.