General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Lowered to $61.00 at Bank of America

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price lowered by Bank of America from $63.00 to $61.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 6th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $51.00 price target (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.50.

General Mills Stock Down 0.6%

GIS opened at $50.38 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $54.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.02. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $50.24 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.84%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.75%.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Perpetual Ltd boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 5,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 4.6% during the first quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 52,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,127,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 24,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 13,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $804,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.