General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Given Consensus Rating of "Reduce" by Analysts

Key Points

• General Mills carries a consensus analyst rating of "Reduce", with 6 sell ratings, 11 holds, and 4 buys; the average 1-year price target is about $42.44.
• Several firms recently cut their outlooks on GIS, including UBS, Mizuho, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, and Goldman Sachs, with multiple price targets lowered.
• The company also posted weaker recent results, missing earnings and revenue estimates in its latest quarter, while insiders Ricardo Fernandez and Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold shares in May.

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Reduce" from the twenty-one ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.4444.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on General Mills from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Mizuho lowered their price target on General Mills from $47.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th. Bank of America lowered General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $48.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on General Mills from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on General Mills from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 19th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ricardo Fernandez sold 7,995 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.50, for a total transaction of $275,827.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 62,283 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,148,763.50. This trade represents a 11.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.27, for a total value of $342,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 86,002 shares in the company, valued at $2,947,288.54. This trade represents a 10.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in General Mills during the second quarter valued at about $9,188,000. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in General Mills by 4.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 65,118 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,374,000 after buying an additional 2,552 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its stake in General Mills by 112.6% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 8,971 shares of the company's stock valued at $465,000 after buying an additional 4,752 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in General Mills by 4.9% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 82,037 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,250,000 after buying an additional 3,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 334.2% during the second quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 19,542 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,012,000 after buying an additional 15,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $33.77 on Thursday. General Mills has a 1-year low of $32.64 and a 1-year high of $55.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The business's fifty day moving average price is $35.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.02 billion, a PE 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $4.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 12.05%.General Mills's quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that General Mills will post 3.43 EPS for the current year.

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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