General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to "Sell"

Key Points

• General Mills has been downgraded from a "hold" to a "sell" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting growing concerns among analysts regarding the company's performance.
• Recent price targets have been lowered by several institutions, with UBS Group setting a target of $49.00, while Bank of America recently adjusted their target to $61.00.
• Despite the downgrade, General Mills reported earnings of $0.74 per share for the last quarter, slightly exceeding expectations, although revenue decreased by 3.3% year-over-year.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report released on Saturday.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on GIS. UBS Group dropped their price target on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $51.00 price target (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.13.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $49.61. The stock had a trading volume of 4,170,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,507,787. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.60. General Mills has a twelve month low of $48.29 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.91 billion, a PE ratio of 12.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of -0.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. General Mills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.580-3.790 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 434.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,138,473,000 after acquiring an additional 15,480,835 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the second quarter valued at approximately $417,508,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in General Mills during the first quarter worth $279,570,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 4,775.2% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,443,981 shares of the company's stock valued at $205,916,000 after buying an additional 3,373,338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock worth $581,903,000 after buying an additional 2,341,137 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

About General Mills

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.