AQR Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• AQR Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in General Mills, Inc. by 8.5%, owning 1,136,833 shares after selling 105,951 shares in the first quarter.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend from $0.60 to $0.61, representing an annualized dividend of $2.44 and a dividend yield of 4.8%.
• General Mills reported earnings per share of $0.74 in its latest quarterly results, exceeding estimates, with a revenue of $4.56 billion, down 3.3% year-over-year.

AQR Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 8.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,136,833 shares of the company's stock after selling 105,951 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.21% of General Mills worth $67,971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Perkins Coie Trust Co boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 69.2% in the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 516 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills during the first quarter worth $34,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Zacks Research upgraded General Mills from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $51.00 price target (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.13.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS traded down $0.50 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $49.85. The stock had a trading volume of 3,611,503 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,580,150. The company has a market cap of $27.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of -0.02. The business has a fifty day moving average of $50.16 and a 200 day moving average of $54.39. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.29 and a 1 year high of $75.66. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%.The business's revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. General Mills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.580-3.790 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. This is an increase from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. General Mills's payout ratio is presently 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.