Barclays Cuts General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $65.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price target cut by Barclays from $68.00 to $65.00 in a research report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on GIS. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday. Bank of America dropped their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho dropped their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.76.

General Mills Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $58.31 on Tuesday. General Mills has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.99 and a 200-day moving average of $65.37.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.