General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Given New $54.00 Price Target at Barclays

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price target trimmed by Barclays from $60.00 to $54.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America decreased their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 target price on General Mills and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.50.

General Mills Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $50.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $27.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.02. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.47. General Mills has a 52-week low of $50.24 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The company’s revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.84%. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.75%.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 834,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,211,000 after buying an additional 85,612 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 484,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,900,000 after acquiring an additional 46,536 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,903,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341,137 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in General Mills by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,652,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,749,000 after acquiring an additional 5,853 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.