General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Given New $84.00 Price Target at Piper Sandler

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

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on GIS. Bank of America upped their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target 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. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $71.93.

General Mills Stock Performance

General Mills stock opened at $74.90 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $41.81 billion, a PE ratio of 17.38, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills has a 12 month low of $60.33 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $69.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 55.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 8,444,312 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 100.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,138,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368,563 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6,140.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,807,000 after acquiring an additional 930,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the first quarter worth $36,177,000. 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.