67,458 General Mills, Inc. $GIS Shares Bought by D.A. Davidson & CO.

Key Points

• D.A. Davidson increased its General Mills stake by 90.9% in the third quarter, purchasing 67,458 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 141,677 shares valued at approximately $4.56 million. Institutional investors collectively own 75.71% of the company.
• Analysts remain cautious, with General Mills receiving a consensus “Reduce” rating and a $36.59 price target. Recent ratings included “sell,” “hold,” “neutral,” and “equal weight” recommendations.
• General Mills exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, reporting $0.75 in EPS and $4.39 billion in revenue, while declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, representing a 7.1% annualized yield.

D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 90.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 141,677 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 67,458 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.'s holdings in General Mills were worth $4,556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in General Mills during the second quarter worth $2,181,608,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 2nd quarter worth $129,298,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor acquired a new position in General Mills during the second quarter worth $126,097,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in General Mills during the second quarter worth $121,707,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in General Mills during the second quarter valued at $105,889,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on GIS. UBS Group reissued a "sell" rating on shares of General Mills in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $34.00 price target (up from $33.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded General Mills from a "sell (d)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Thursday. Bank of America reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on General Mills from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and a consensus price target of $36.59.

General Mills Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $34.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $18.32 billion, a PE ratio of -20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $31.17 and a 12-month high of $49.59. The company has a 50-day moving average of $35.40 and a 200 day moving average of $37.61.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 23rd. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.35 billion. General Mills had a positive return on equity of 21.86% and a negative net margin of 4.89%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.86 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 13th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.1%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -146.99%.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc is a global food company that manufactures and markets branded consumer foods. Its portfolio includes cereal, snack foods, refrigerated and baking products, yogurt, soup, meals, and pet food. The company's brands include Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Yoplait, Old El Paso, Progresso, Annie's, Totino's, Häagen-Dazs, and Blue Buffalo.

General Mills sells products through grocery stores, mass merchandisers, convenience stores, e-commerce channels, restaurants, and other foodservice outlets.

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