American Century Companies Inc. Decreases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in General Mills by 41.5%, selling over 2.3 million shares, and now holds approximately 0.61% of the company's stock valued at $200.37 million.
• General Mills recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.61 per share, representing a 4.9% yield and a payout ratio of 59.51%.
• After reporting earnings of $0.74 per share, General Mills slightly exceeded analysts' expectations but showed a 3.3% decline in revenue compared to the previous year.

American Century Companies Inc. lessened its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 41.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,351,237 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,380,234 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.61% of General Mills worth $200,371,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Transce3nd LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Perkins Coie Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 69.2% in the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 516 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1,096.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 598 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 target price on General Mills and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $45.00 target price (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $59.13.

General Mills Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of GIS traded down $0.2660 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $49.6440. 3,683,441 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,588,894. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.59 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.37. The firm has a market cap of $26.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 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 results 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 business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. General Mills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.580-3.790 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. This is a boost from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.51%.

About General Mills

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.