Analysts Set General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) PT at $43.22

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has been given an average recommendation of “Reduce” by the twenty-one research firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.2222.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, April 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of General Mills from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of General Mills from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $35.00 to $33.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of General Mills from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $46.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 16th.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS opened at $34.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $18.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.47 and a beta of -0.02. General Mills has a 1-year low of $33.58 and a 1-year high of $55.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.36.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $4.44 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.53 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 12.05%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that General Mills will post 3.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GIS. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in General Mills during the second quarter valued at $9,188,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in General Mills by 4.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 65,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,374,000 after purchasing an additional 2,552 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its stake in General Mills by 112.6% during the second quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 8,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $465,000 after purchasing an additional 4,752 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 4.9% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 82,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,250,000 after purchasing an additional 3,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC raised its stake in General Mills by 334.2% during the second quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 19,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 15,041 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company’s portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.