Advisors Asset Management Inc. Trims Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 3.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 113,878 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,598 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $7,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.4% during the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 10,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $719,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.8% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 17,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,205,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 40.6% during the first quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 5,866 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, Gulf International Bank UK Ltd lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.3% during the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 48,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,370,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on GIS. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.82.

General Mills Stock Up 0.7 %

GIS traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $66.32. 2,548,050 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,089,879. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.50. The company has a market cap of $37.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.09. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.33 and a fifty-two week high of $76.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.68%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,227,706.29. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.