Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA Acquires New Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Wedgewood Investors Inc. PA acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 10,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $659,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 199.3% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 409.8% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the period. RFP Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 66.3% in the first quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the period. Finally, Perkins Coie Trust Co lifted its holdings in General Mills by 769.2% in the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho decreased their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on 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. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.71.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded up $0.16 during trading on Friday, hitting $70.83. 1,957,481 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,995,006. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $74.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $66.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.26. The company has a market cap of $39.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.43, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.09.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The business 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.39%. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.68%.

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.