Wells Fargo & Company Lowers General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $61.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price objective cut by Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $61.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on GIS. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen reduced their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lowered their price target on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.88.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $61.02 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $55.15 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $33.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.89 and a 200-day moving average of $66.56.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.38 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.93%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,565,000 after buying an additional 43,086 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $547,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 129.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after acquiring an additional 104,436 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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.