General Mills (NYSE:GIS) PT Raised to $75.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $67.00 to $75.00 in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock.

GIS has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a buy rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $70.60.

General Mills Stock Performance

General Mills stock opened at $74.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $41.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $68.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.28. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $60.33 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.65.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 55.68%.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,219,113,000 after acquiring an additional 8,444,312 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $377,205,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 22.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 100.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in General Mills by 6,140.4% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,807,000 after acquiring an additional 930,271 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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 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.