Bank of America Cuts General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $36.00

Key Points

• Bank of America cut its price target on General Mills from $42 to $36 while keeping a neutral rating, implying about 6.6% upside from the prior close.
• Other analysts have also turned more cautious on GIS, with multiple firms lowering targets and several assigning hold, underweight, or sell ratings. Overall, the stock’s consensus rating is now “Reduce” with a consensus target price of $41.78.
• General Mills recently reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results, including EPS of $0.64 versus $0.73 expected and revenue of $4.44 billion versus $4.53 billion expected, while insiders also sold shares in recent transactions.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) had its price objective decreased by analysts at Bank of America from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. Bank of America's price target would indicate a potential upside of 6.60% from the stock's previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on General Mills from $42.00 to $36.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. UBS Group dropped their target price on General Mills from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Zacks Research cut General Mills from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on General Mills from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on General Mills from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus target price of $41.78.

General Mills Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of GIS stock opened at $33.77 on Thursday. General Mills has a 12-month low of $32.64 and a 12-month high of $55.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm's 50 day moving average is $35.39 and its 200 day moving average is $42.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.26 and a beta of -0.02.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that General Mills will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total transaction of $342,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 86,002 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,947,288.54. The trade was a 10.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Ricardo Fernandez sold 7,995 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.50, for a total transaction of $275,827.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 62,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,148,763.50. The trade was a 11.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $361,552,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 2,970.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,466,693 shares of the company's stock valued at $347,201,000 after buying an additional 7,223,487 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 366.1% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,117,287 shares of the company's stock valued at $237,954,000 after buying an additional 4,019,319 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at $84,862,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 61.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,141,691 shares of the company's stock valued at $192,589,000 after buying an additional 1,573,444 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

About General Mills

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.

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