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

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price objective cut by Mizuho from $72.00 to $65.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.13.

General Mills Stock Down 1.5 %

General Mills stock opened at $58.46 on Monday. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $57.85 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $32.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.05. 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 (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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.