Stifel Nicolaus Has Lowered Expectations for General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Stock Price

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price objective dropped by stock analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $72.00 to $65.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective points to a potential upside of 9.89% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup cut their price target on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays cut their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen cut their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.88.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock opened at $59.15 on Wednesday. General Mills has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $61.01 and its 200-day moving average is $66.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $32.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its stake in General Mills by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. grew its stake in General Mills by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 23,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,471,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.