Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates Sector Perform Rating for General Mills (NYSE:GIS)

General Mills (NYSE:GIS)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reissued by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 5.86% from the company’s current price.

GIS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Mizuho cut their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on General Mills in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target for the company. Citigroup lifted their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.13.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE:GIS traded down $0.65 on Thursday, reaching $74.36. 137,874 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,943,382. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.40. The firm has a market cap of $41.50 billion, a PE ratio of 17.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills has a 12 month low of $60.33 and a 12 month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.09 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Rise Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 199.3% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 409.8% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 66.3% during the first quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 769.2% during the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 65.5% during the first quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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 savory snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, unbaked and fully baked frozen dough products, frozen hot snacks, ethnic meals, side dish mixes, frozen breakfast and entrees, nutrition bars, and frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.