General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Cut to $68.00 by Analysts at Barclays

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price target reduced by Barclays from $74.00 to $68.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday. Citigroup cut their price objective on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.56.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $63.61 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $66.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.11. General Mills has a 1-year low of $61.47 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The company has a market cap of $35.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 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 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total transaction of $576,156.24. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,055,870.64. This represents a 35.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 65,230 shares of company stock valued at $4,547,822. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Secure Asset Management LLC grew its position in General Mills by 5.0% during the second quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the company’s stock valued at $200,000 after acquiring an additional 307 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the 2nd quarter valued at $659,000. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 5,010 shares of the company’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 21.1% during the 2nd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 5,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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 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.