Bank of America Cuts General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $68.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price objective reduced by Bank of America from $70.00 to $68.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock.

GIS has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $58.78 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $32.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. General Mills has a 12-month low of $55.15 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.23.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. RFG Advisory LLC increased its position in General Mills by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 23,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,471,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in General Mills by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,579 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its position in General Mills by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 3,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 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.