General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Earns "Buy" Rating from Stifel Nicolaus

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $77.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus' target price suggests a potential upside of 8.19% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on GIS. Mizuho raised their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on General Mills from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $72.18.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of General Mills stock traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $71.17. The company had a trading volume of 3,630,603 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,282,608. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.40. General Mills has a one year low of $60.33 and a one year high of $90.89. The firm has a market cap of $40.42 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.33.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.12. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.84% and a net margin of 12.66%. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 7,671 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.15, for a total transaction of $492,094.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 102,924 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,602,574.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 7,671 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.15, for a total transaction of $492,094.65. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 102,924 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,602,574.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.44, for a total transaction of $3,870,008.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 318,483 shares in the company, valued at $20,523,044.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 77,782 shares of company stock valued at $5,057,820. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth about $377,205,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 106.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,442,653 shares of the company's stock valued at $224,254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778,345 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 48.7% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,051,607 shares of the company's stock valued at $325,728,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,111 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 257.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,061,943 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,954,000 after purchasing an additional 765,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 165.6% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,049,750 shares of the company's stock valued at $68,381,000 after purchasing an additional 654,550 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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.