General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Coverage Initiated at UBS Group

Equities researchers at UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of General Mills (NYSE:GIS) in a research report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “sell” rating and a $54.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential downside of 4.19% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays decreased their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.00.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $56.36 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $31.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.25, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. General Mills has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. 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 50-day moving average price of $59.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.51.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $496,484,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,903,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341,137 shares during the period. Finally, Nepsis Inc. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 3,504.8% during the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,023,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104,353 shares during the last quarter. 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.