Brokerages Set General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Target Price at $71.94

Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.44.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GIS. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on General Mills from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,219,113,000 after buying an additional 8,444,312 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in General Mills by 22.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in General Mills by 0.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,242,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,423,000 after purchasing an additional 23,400 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in General Mills by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,858,000 after purchasing an additional 501,717 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $377,205,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

General Mills stock opened at $63.29 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $68.51 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.74. The company has a market capitalization of $35.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 0.09. General Mills has a 12-month low of $60.33 and a 12-month high of $77.63.

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

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.76%.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.