Stifel Nicolaus Cuts General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $44.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price reduced by Stifel Nicolaus from $50.00 to $44.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $63.00 price objective on shares of General Mills and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $46.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of General Mills from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $44.61.

General Mills Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $37.04 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.63. General Mills has a 12-month low of $37.01 and a 12-month high of $62.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.06 and a beta of -0.05.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.09). General Mills had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 12.05%.The company had revenue of $4.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. World Investment Advisors grew its position in General Mills by 91.6% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 17,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 8,257 shares during the period. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 190,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,882,000 after buying an additional 5,593 shares during the last quarter. Union Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth $99,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,269,781 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,040,000 after acquiring an additional 109,063 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about General Mills

Here are the key news stories impacting General Mills this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler reaffirmed its buy/overweight stance on GIS (despite trimming its target earlier), signaling continued broker support for the turnaround thesis. Piper Sandler Reaffirms Their Buy Rating on General Mills (GIS)
• Positive Sentiment: RBC Capital reaffirmed its buy/outperform view on GIS, providing another vote of confidence from a large broker. RBC Capital Keeps Their Buy Rating on General Mills (GIS)
• Positive Sentiment: Diamond Hill Capital’s Mid-Cap strategy disclosed a new position in General Mills in Q4, indicating some institutional accumulation at these levels. Diamond Hill Mid Cap Strategy Initiated a Position in General Mills (GIS) in Q4
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies reaffirmed a hold rating, reflecting a wait-and-see view: management’s recovery plan is being acknowledged but not yet rewarded by all analysts. Jefferies Reaffirms Their Hold Rating on General Mills (GIS)
• Neutral Sentiment: Management highlighted product innovation (more protein/fiber SKUs like Cheerios Protein) and portfolio reshaping (Brazil unit sale) as recovery levers; these are strategic positives but will take time to materially reverse top-line/margin trends. General Mills Bets on Protein and Fiber to Win Back Consumers
• Negative Sentiment: Q3 results missed on EPS and showed an 8.4% YoY revenue decline; analysts flagged a tough consumer environment and lowered near-term forecasts. General Mills’ FQ3 miss highlights tough consumer environment — analysts
• Negative Sentiment: Several brokers slashed price targets and/or lowered ratings after the print: UBS cut its target to $35 and kept a Sell; JPMorgan, UBS, Goldman, TD Cowen and others trimmed targets or moved to underweight/neutral — putting fresh downside risk and pressuring sentiment. General Mills price target lowered to $35 from $40 at UBS
• Negative Sentiment: Investor commentary (including Jim Cramer) and post-earnings notes highlight that management’s messaging and near-term guidance weren’t convincing, amplifying the sell-side cuts and heavy trading. Jim Cramer on General Mills: “Management Tried to Turn Minuses Into Pluses, But the Crowd Wasn’t Buying It”

General Mills Company Profile

General Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company’s portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.