Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Has $18.69 Million Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio trimmed its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 9.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 267,131 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,273 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in General Mills were worth $18,691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 230.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 93,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,089,000 after purchasing an additional 65,218 shares in the last quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 943 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,927 shares of the company’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 90.6% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 7,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 29.9% during the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 2,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.82.

General Mills Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $66.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $37.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.54, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $65.75 and a 200-day moving average of $66.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.33 and a 1-year high of $75.88.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.59%. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.68%.

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