Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 69,346,225 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 581,045 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 12.78% of General Mills worth $3,592,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 434.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,138,473,000 after acquiring an additional 15,480,835 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,173,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,954,000 after acquiring an additional 170,587 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 8.1% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,864,819 shares of the company’s stock valued at $589,814,000 after acquiring an additional 741,432 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,588,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $443,173,000 after acquiring an additional 393,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 7,161,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,213,000 after buying an additional 315,375 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,332,313.72. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays cut their target price on General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on General Mills from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price target on General Mills from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.82.

General Mills Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of GIS opened at $47.63 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.00, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of -0.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $48.58 and a 200-day moving average of $50.65. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.80 and a 52 week high of $67.40.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 9th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.