General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Position Boosted by Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC

Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC increased its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 25.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,217 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 12,337 shares during the quarter. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $3,660,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,178,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,652,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 13,425 shares of the company's stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 33,231 shares of the company's stock worth $2,119,000 after acquiring an additional 3,434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of General Mills by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 127,524 shares of the company's stock worth $8,132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price objective on General Mills and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley restated an "underweight" rating and set a $51.00 price target (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded General Mills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $59.73.

General Mills Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of GIS stock traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $51.60. 4,847,039 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,704,335. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.86 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $27.99 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.59.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.73%. This is an increase from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.51%.

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.