General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Given New $45.00 Price Target at TD Cowen

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its target price reduced by investment analysts at TD Cowen from $48.00 to $45.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the stock. TD Cowen’s price objective points to a potential downside of 4.29% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on GIS. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Wall Street Zen raised General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. HSBC lowered their price objective on General Mills from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.11.

General Mills Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of GIS traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $47.02. The stock had a trading volume of 2,347,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,725,274. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.73. The firm has a market cap of $25.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of -0.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66. General Mills has a 12-month low of $45.15 and a 12-month high of $67.35.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 15.24%.The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.07 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 66,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,332,313.72. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 7.9% during the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 74,864 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,476,000 after acquiring an additional 5,486 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 45.3% during the 1st quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 132,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,927,000 after purchasing an additional 41,312 shares in the last quarter. Affinity Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in General Mills during the 1st quarter valued at about $203,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 6.4% in the first quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 30,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after buying an additional 1,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in General Mills by 4.5% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,056,000 after buying an additional 1,469 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.