Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co Increases Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co raised its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,812 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,052 shares during the quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GIS. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at about $830,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 30,551 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,933,000 after buying an additional 2,016 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 765,146 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,403,000 after buying an additional 56,231 shares during the period. TrueMark Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $643,000. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV raised its position in shares of General Mills by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 7,496 shares of the company’s stock valued at $474,000 after buying an additional 1,103 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Stock Up 1.3 %

NYSE:GIS traded up $0.93 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $72.29. The company had a trading volume of 3,645,786 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,954,824. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.49. 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 12-month low of $60.33 and a 12-month high of $74.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a PEG ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.09.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of 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. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.71.

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.