26,173 Shares in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Bought by IFG Advisory LLC

Key Points

• IFG Advisory LLC acquired 26,173 shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) valued at approximately $1,565,000 in the first quarter, reflecting growing interest from institutional investors.
• General Mills recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.61, indicating a positive change and offering a 5.0% yield to shareholders.
• Analysts have varying outlooks on General Mills, with price targets ranging from $49.00 to $61.00 and a current consensus rating of "Hold."

IFG Advisory LLC purchased a new position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 26,173 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,565,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills during the first quarter valued at $279,570,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 4,775.2% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,443,981 shares of the company's stock valued at $205,916,000 after buying an additional 3,373,338 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $581,903,000 after buying an additional 2,341,137 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in General Mills by 115.2% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,817,780 shares of the company's stock valued at $179,690,000 after buying an additional 1,508,680 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in General Mills by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company's stock valued at $514,101,000 after buying an additional 1,253,483 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America lowered their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price target on General Mills and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.73.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $48.94 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $48.59 and a one year high of $75.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $52.24 and a 200 day moving average of $56.25. The company has a market capitalization of $26.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.94, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of -0.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.60 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. General Mills's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This is a positive change from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. General Mills's payout ratio is 59.51%.

General Mills Company 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.

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