General Mills (NYSE:GIS) PT Lowered to $68.00 at Bank of America

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price target cut by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $70.00 to $68.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Bank of America‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 6.50% from the stock’s previous close.

GIS has been the subject of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.72.

General Mills Trading Down 0.5 %

General Mills stock traded down $0.32 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $63.85. 2,379,371 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,120,049. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, 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 $78.88. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.64, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.12.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 26.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. Analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 16.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,219,113,000 after purchasing an additional 8,444,312 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $377,205,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in General Mills by 22.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $955,118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,488,341 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in General Mills by 106.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,442,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,254,000 after acquiring an additional 1,778,345 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 257.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,061,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,954,000 after acquiring an additional 765,070 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently 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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.