General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Hits New 12-Month Low - Time to Sell?

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $55.01 and last traded at $55.63, with a volume of 203072 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays cut their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.00.

General Mills Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market cap of $30.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $59.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.98.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. The business's revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company's stock worth $4,376,573,000 after buying an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $923,907,000 after purchasing an additional 136,895 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 2,341,137 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 18.4% in the fourth 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 period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company's stock worth $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.