General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have assigned a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.44.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley started coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. UBS Group reduced their price target on General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $54.18 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.78, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.02. General Mills has a fifty-two week low of $52.39 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the first quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 9.7% during the first quarter. Bontempo Ohly Capital Mgmt LLC now owns 68,897 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,119,000 after acquiring an additional 6,107 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 6.9% during the first quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $244,000 after buying an additional 262 shares during the period. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 3.0% during the first quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 13,832 shares of the company’s stock worth $827,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the first quarter worth $9,507,000. 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.