General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Upgraded by Sanford C. Bernstein to "Market Perform"

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Sanford C. Bernstein from an "underperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $70.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $62.00. Sanford C. Bernstein's price target points to a potential upside of 0.24% from the company's current price.

GIS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $77.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. 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 report on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $72.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $72.06.

General Mills Stock Down 1.4 %

GIS stock traded down $1.02 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $69.83. 3,846,908 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,100,884. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market cap of $39.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.15. The firm's 50 day moving average is $68.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.17. General Mills has a 1 year low of $60.33 and a 1 year high of $90.58.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,227,706.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.21, for a total transaction of $692,100.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 93,381 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,462,899.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,765 shares of company stock worth $745,822 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in General Mills by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 10,280 shares of the company's stock worth $719,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp. boosted its position in General Mills by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 17,228 shares of the company's stock worth $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company boosted its position in General Mills by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 6,034 shares of the company's stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Traverso Chambers Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Traverso Chambers Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,156 shares of the company's stock worth $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp boosted its position in General Mills by 40.6% in the 1st quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 540 shares of the company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.