General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Cut to $40.00 by Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price trimmed by Stifel Nicolaus from $44.00 to $40.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on GIS. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $45.00 to $37.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of General Mills from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $53.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of General Mills from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $43.22.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $35.08 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $40.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.46. General Mills has a 1-year low of $34.04 and a 1-year high of $58.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.58 and a beta of 0.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.09). General Mills had a net margin of 12.05% and a return on equity of 19.19%. The company had revenue of $4.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in General Mills by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,717,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,700,060,000 after purchasing an additional 145,701 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,697,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $915,953,000 after purchasing an additional 488,617 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in General Mills by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,197,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $704,170,000 after purchasing an additional 172,200 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in General Mills by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,956,665 shares of the company’s stock worth $494,548,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in General Mills by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,837,490 shares of the company’s stock worth $457,443,000 after purchasing an additional 200,043 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company’s portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.