General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Receives Buy Rating from Stifel Nicolaus

Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of General Mills (NYSE:GIS) in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a $77.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on GIS. Citigroup started coverage on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a neutral rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and issued a $72.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $72.18.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS stock opened at $71.17 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $40.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.15. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.39. General Mills has a 52 week low of $60.33 and a 52 week high of $90.89.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.97 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 26.84%. The company’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 7,671 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.15, for a total value of $492,094.65. Following the sale, the insider now owns 102,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,602,574.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other General Mills news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 7,671 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.15, for a total value of $492,094.65. Following the sale, the insider now owns 102,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,602,574.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.44, for a total transaction of $3,870,008.64. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,523,044.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 77,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,057,820. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Operose Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 214.1% in the 3rd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 199.3% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 409.8% in the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. 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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.