Wall Street Zen Downgrades General Mills (NYSE:GIS) to Sell

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

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays dropped their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of 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. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $60.50.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS stock traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $50.51. 9,005,253 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,616,611. General Mills has a 1-year low of $50.19 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.84 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.02. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in General Mills by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 834,417 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,211,000 after acquiring an additional 85,612 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 484,550 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,900,000 after purchasing an additional 46,536 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $581,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341,137 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company's stock worth $4,652,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in General Mills by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43,114 shares of the company's stock worth $2,749,000 after purchasing an additional 5,853 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.

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