UBS Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Stock Price

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) had its price target dropped by research analysts at UBS Group from $52.00 to $49.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "sell" rating on the stock. UBS Group's price target points to a potential downside of 3.89% from the stock's current price.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating and set a $51.00 target price (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $63.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $61.06.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $50.98. 1,524,838 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,460,978. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $54.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.02. General Mills has a 1-year low of $50.66 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.39% and a net margin of 13.02%. The company 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 company posted $1.01 earnings per share. General Mills's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 15,480,835 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company's stock worth $923,907,000 after buying an additional 136,895 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in General Mills by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company's stock worth $514,101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,483 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.