General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Now Covered by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Investment analysts at Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of General Mills (NYSE:GIS) in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm set an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential downside of 9.84% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup lowered their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho lowered their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.69.

General Mills Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of GIS opened at $58.78 on Monday. General Mills has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The company 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 firm’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $547,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,652,000 after buying an additional 4,839 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after acquiring an additional 5,853 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Company Profile

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.