38,159 Shares in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Acquired by BDF Gestion

BDF Gestion acquired a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 38,159 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,414,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6,893.6% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 512,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,361,000 after acquiring an additional 504,816 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 155,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,156,000 after buying an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 16,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,049,000 after buying an additional 3,367 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 216.1% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 1,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 1,156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Blueprint LLC increased its position in General Mills by 54.6% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 5,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,954 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.82.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 17,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,227,706.29. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS stock traded up $0.08 on Friday, reaching $69.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,999,644 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,068,787. The company’s fifty day moving average is $65.75 and its 200 day moving average is $66.86. The company has a market cap of $38.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.65. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $60.33 and a 1 year high of $74.45.

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

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 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 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.