UPDATE: JP Morgan Downgrades General Mills to Neutral on Yogurt Problems

JP Morgan reduced its rating on General Mills (NYSE: GIS) from Overweight to Neutral and lowered its price target from $43 to $40.

JP Morgan noted, "We are downgrading primarily because we no longer believe that Mills is going to fix its yogurt problems in a timely and sufficient manner. We previously were Overweight GIS because we thought the company, the world's biggest yogurt maker, would either use its muscle to gain shelf space in the ascending Greek yogurt sub-category, or failing that, buy a competitor such as Chobani. We now believe that neither of these events is likely to happen anytime soon. Overall, Mills' total Nielsen Co. numbers are becoming too challenged to ignore, and we do not envision substantial improvement in the near term.

General Mills closed at $39.93 on Friday.

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