JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts General Mills (NYSE:GIS) Price Target to $36.00

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) had its price objective trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Evercore set a $45.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Zacks Research cut shares of General Mills from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $47.00 to $44.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on General Mills from $53.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $44.61.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $37.04 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. General Mills has a 1 year low of $37.01 and a 1 year high of $62.61. The stock has a market cap of $19.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.06 and a beta of -0.05. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $44.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $46.63.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $4.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 12.05%.General Mills’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 59.66%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Mills

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 69,346,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,592,828,000 after acquiring an additional 581,045 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in General Mills by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,717,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,700,060,000 after purchasing an additional 145,701 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,697,919 shares of the company’s stock valued at $915,953,000 after purchasing an additional 488,617 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,197,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $704,170,000 after purchasing an additional 172,200 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 15.9% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 9,956,665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $494,548,000 after purchasing an additional 1,368,041 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More General Mills News

Here are the key news stories impacting General Mills this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Piper Sandler reaffirmed its buy/overweight stance on GIS (despite trimming its target earlier), signaling continued broker support for the turnaround thesis. Piper Sandler Reaffirms Their Buy Rating on General Mills (GIS)
• Positive Sentiment: RBC Capital reaffirmed its buy/outperform view on GIS, providing another vote of confidence from a large broker. RBC Capital Keeps Their Buy Rating on General Mills (GIS)
• Positive Sentiment: Diamond Hill Capital’s Mid-Cap strategy disclosed a new position in General Mills in Q4, indicating some institutional accumulation at these levels. Diamond Hill Mid Cap Strategy Initiated a Position in General Mills (GIS) in Q4
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies reaffirmed a hold rating, reflecting a wait-and-see view: management’s recovery plan is being acknowledged but not yet rewarded by all analysts. Jefferies Reaffirms Their Hold Rating on General Mills (GIS)
• Neutral Sentiment: Management highlighted product innovation (more protein/fiber SKUs like Cheerios Protein) and portfolio reshaping (Brazil unit sale) as recovery levers; these are strategic positives but will take time to materially reverse top-line/margin trends. General Mills Bets on Protein and Fiber to Win Back Consumers
• Negative Sentiment: Q3 results missed on EPS and showed an 8.4% YoY revenue decline; analysts flagged a tough consumer environment and lowered near-term forecasts. General Mills’ FQ3 miss highlights tough consumer environment — analysts
• Negative Sentiment: Several brokers slashed price targets and/or lowered ratings after the print: UBS cut its target to $35 and kept a Sell; JPMorgan, UBS, Goldman, TD Cowen and others trimmed targets or moved to underweight/neutral — putting fresh downside risk and pressuring sentiment. General Mills price target lowered to $35 from $40 at UBS
• Negative Sentiment: Investor commentary (including Jim Cramer) and post-earnings notes highlight that management’s messaging and near-term guidance weren’t convincing, amplifying the sell-side cuts and heavy trading. Jim Cramer on General Mills: “Management Tried to Turn Minuses Into Pluses, But the Crowd Wasn’t Buying It”

General Mills Company Profile

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.