Howland Capital Management LLC Sells 1,511 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Howland Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 13.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,800 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,511 shares during the quarter. Howland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $581,903,000 after buying an additional 2,341,137 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company’s stock worth $514,101,000 after buying an additional 1,253,483 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,846,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $436,606,000 after buying an additional 561,731 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,351,735 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,035,000 after buying an additional 509,268 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,989,111 shares of the company’s stock worth $381,926,000 after buying an additional 924,982 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded General Mills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.73.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $48.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $52.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.26. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.59 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $26.55 billion and a P/E ratio of 11.94.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share 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 given a $0.61 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 59.51%.

About General Mills

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.