Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Takes Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 13,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $830,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 10,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. North Star Investment Management Corp. lifted its position in General Mills by 0.8% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 17,228 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,205,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its stake in General Mills by 40.6% in the 1st quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 540 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in General Mills by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, Gulf International Bank UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 48,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,370,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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 report on Thursday, June 27th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Citigroup reduced their target price on General Mills from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.71.

General Mills Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $72.29 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $40.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $66.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.43. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $74.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

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. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. 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 firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 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.