General Mills (NYSE:GIS) PT Lowered to $72.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price reduced by Evercore ISI from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock.

GIS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised General Mills from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and upped their price target for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. TD Cowen raised their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Two 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $70.44.

General Mills Stock Down 0.7 %

GIS stock opened at $63.26 on Friday. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $60.33 and a fifty-two week high of $77.63. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $68.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.74. The firm 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.65.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.76%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,219,113,000 after purchasing an additional 8,444,312 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 22.3% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $955,118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,488,341 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 23,400 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in General Mills by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,858,000 after buying an additional 501,717 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $377,205,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.