General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Raised to $84.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price target boosted by Piper Sandler from $74.00 to $84.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They set a buy rating and a $76.00 price target on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $72.73.

General Mills Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE GIS opened at $74.51 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $69.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.54. General Mills has a 12 month low of $60.33 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.29, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The company had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Aveo Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 23,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,527,000 after purchasing an additional 949 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $713,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 20,055 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,306,000 after purchasing an additional 6,255 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.