General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Lowered to $78.00 at Stifel Nicolaus

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price lowered by research analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $82.00 to $78.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price suggests a potential upside of 20.41% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.50.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded up $0.87 on Thursday, reaching $64.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,657,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,937,469. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $35.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.42, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills has a 52-week low of $61.47 and a 52-week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released 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 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 67,555 shares of company stock worth $4,721,336. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the third quarter valued at $27,000. First Foundation Advisors grew its holdings in General Mills by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in General Mills by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth about $44,000. 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.