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

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price target decreased by Barclays from $68.00 to $65.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup cut their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.76.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $58.31 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $32.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. General Mills has a 52 week low of $55.15 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm 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 earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

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. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $496,484,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in General Mills by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,903,000 after buying an additional 2,341,137 shares in the last quarter. 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.