Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 54.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,230 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,250 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised 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. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 834,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,211,000 after buying an additional 85,612 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 484,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,900,000 after acquiring an additional 46,536 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,903,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,652,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock opened at $54.47 on Wednesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.39 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $55.63 and its 200 day moving average is $59.50. The company has a market cap of $30.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.84, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.02.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 6th. Barclays lowered their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.44.

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.