General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Given New $76.00 Price Target at Citigroup

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

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on GIS. Argus reiterated a hold rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective 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, June 28th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $70.60.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $74.63 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $68.97 and a 200-day moving average of $68.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.65 billion, a PE ratio of 17.32, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. General Mills has a 12 month low of $60.33 and a 12 month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.12 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict 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 was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in General Mills by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,219,113,000 after acquiring an additional 8,444,312 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in General Mills by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,858,000 after acquiring an additional 501,717 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $377,205,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in General Mills by 6.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,151,000 after acquiring an additional 323,090 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.