Citigroup Lowers General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $68.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price lowered by Citigroup from $71.00 to $68.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

GIS has been the topic of several other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised General Mills from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and boosted their target price for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. HSBC increased their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.72.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock opened at $63.71 on Thursday. General Mills has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $78.88. The company has a market cap of $36.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.12. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $68.76 and its 200 day moving average is $66.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 26.84%. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.12 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.13%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of General Mills by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 10,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its stake in General Mills by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 17,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,205,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Traverso Chambers Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in General Mills by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Traverso Chambers Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,156 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp raised its stake in General Mills by 40.6% in the first quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 5,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently 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.