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

Key Points

• General Mills was downgraded from a "hold" to a "sell" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating growing concerns among analysts regarding the company's performance.
• UBS Group lowered its price target for General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00, with several other firms also adjusting their price objectives and ratings, highlighting a bearish tone around the stock.
• The company's stock has shown a 3.3% decrease in quarterly revenue year-over-year, reflecting potential challenges in its market performance despite a slight beat in earnings per share.

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

GIS has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group reduced their price objective on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $51.00 price objective (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price objective on General Mills and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.73.

General Mills Stock Up 0.3%

General Mills stock opened at $51.10 on Friday. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $49.04 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $27.72 billion and a P/E ratio of 12.46. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.62.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,138,473,000 after acquiring an additional 15,480,835 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in General Mills by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $923,907,000 after buying an additional 136,895 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,864,819 shares of the company's stock valued at $589,814,000 after buying an additional 741,432 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in General Mills by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company's stock valued at $514,101,000 after buying an additional 1,253,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $496,484,000. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.