Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 0.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 69,346,225 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 581,045 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of General Mills worth $3,592,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Garde Capital Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 101.5% in the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the first quarter valued at about $34,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the first quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Pingora Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 416.7% in the first quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. HSBC dropped their price objective on General Mills from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $45.00 target price (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.82.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $47.63 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.65. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.80 and a fifty-two week high of $67.40. The company has a market capitalization of $25.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.00, a P/E/G 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.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 15.24%.The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid 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 of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 66,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,332,313.72. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.