General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target Cut to $52.00 by Analysts at Mizuho

Key Points

• Mizuho has reduced its target price for General Mills from $57.00 to $52.00, maintaining a "neutral" rating on the stock, which indicates a potential upside of 4.23% from its previous close.
• Several other analysts have also adjusted their ratings, with Stifel Nicolaus decreasing its target from $65.00 to $56.00 and maintaining a "buy" rating, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target from $53.00 to $45.00, reiterating an "underweight" rating.
• General Mills reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.86, exceeding analysts' expectations, though revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same period last year.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by analysts at Mizuho from $57.00 to $52.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a "neutral" rating on the stock. Mizuho's target price would suggest a potential upside of 3.15% from the stock's current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on GIS. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of General Mills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $45.00 target price (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of General Mills from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $58.13.

General Mills Trading Up 1.1%

NYSE GIS traded up $0.56 during trading on Friday, hitting $50.41. 15,033,316 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,807,454. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $49.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.43. General Mills has a 12-month low of $48.29 and a 12-month high of $75.33. The firm has a market cap of $26.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of -0.02.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. General Mills's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 45.8% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 242,600 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,153,000 after purchasing an additional 76,226 shares in the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 50.0% during the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 51,514 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,669,000 after purchasing an additional 17,173 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.8% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 41,293 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,127,000 after purchasing an additional 739 shares in the last quarter. MASTERINVEST Kapitalanlage GmbH bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,422,000. Finally, Stance Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,653,000. Institutional investors 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.