Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Lowers Position in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lessened its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 64,824 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,534 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.5% in the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 5,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Conning Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4.6% in the first quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.4% in the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 52,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,127,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.8% in the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 24,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,484,000 after buying an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.5% in the first quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 13,452 shares of the company’s stock worth $804,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.82.

General Mills Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:GIS opened at $50.11 on Tuesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.29 and a 1-year high of $74.98. The company has a 50-day moving average of $49.76 and a 200 day moving average of $53.62. The firm has a market cap of $26.73 billion, a PE ratio of 9.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of -0.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.40.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 46.12%.

General Mills 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.