Bank of America Increases General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $72.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price target lifted by Bank of America from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Cowen upped their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup started coverage on General Mills in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. They set a neutral rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $73.50.

General Mills Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $69.10 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $64.78 and its 200-day moving average is $64.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.24 billion, a PE ratio of 15.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. General Mills has a 12-month low of $60.33 and a 12-month high of $90.89.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.97 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.84% and a net margin of 12.66%. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.13%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 7,671 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.15, for a total transaction of $492,094.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 102,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,602,574.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 7,671 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.15, for a total transaction of $492,094.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 102,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,602,574.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.44, for a total value of $3,870,008.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 318,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,523,044.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 67,782 shares of company stock worth $4,365,720. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 54,713,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,196,559,000 after acquiring an additional 279,268 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,076,744 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,536,986,000 after buying an additional 216,622 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,594,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $887,334,000 after buying an additional 257,174 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 123,599.0% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,076,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,723,000 after buying an additional 11,067,051 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,852,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $734,907,000 after buying an additional 75,902 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.31% 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.