Citigroup Raises General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $76.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price lifted by Citigroup from $68.00 to $76.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a buy rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Argus reissued a hold rating on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Bank of America raised their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $70.60.

General Mills Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $74.99 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $41.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills has a one year low of $60.33 and a one year high of $75.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $69.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. Analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 55.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $512,000 after buying an additional 539 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $213,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $775,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 23,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $377,205,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.