Ascent Group LLC Grows Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Ascent Group LLC increased its stake in General Mills, Inc. by 38%, owning 92,443 shares worth approximately $5.53 million after acquiring an additional 25,443 shares in the first quarter.
• Multiple hedge funds have increased their holdings in General Mills, with a total of 75.71% of the stock currently owned by institutional investors.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on General Mills, with four rating it as a "Buy," nine as a "Hold," and three as a "Sell," and a consensus price target of $59.13.

Ascent Group LLC raised its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 38.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 92,443 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,443 shares during the period. Ascent Group LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $5,527,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Kestra Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 1,729.0% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 1,829 shares of the company's stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares in the last quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV grew its position in shares of General Mills by 8.2% in the first quarter. Resources Management Corp CT ADV now owns 4,428 shares of the company's stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.4% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 51,847 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Pingora Partners LLC lifted its position in General Mills by 416.7% during the first quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 620 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New England Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in General Mills by 0.9% during the first quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. now owns 30,440 shares of the company's stock worth $1,820,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GIS shares. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. Bank of America decreased their price objective 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. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded General Mills from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.13.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS traded up $0.60 during trading on Thursday, reaching $50.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,033,009 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,467,606. The business's fifty day moving average price is $50.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.36. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.29 and a twelve month 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. The firm has a market cap of $27.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of -0.02.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last 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, analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This is an increase from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.8%. General Mills's payout ratio 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.