Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Buys New Shares in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 60,926 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,643,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. TCW Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 23,061 shares of the company's stock worth $1,471,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,837 shares of the company's stock worth $946,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,916 shares of the company's stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its position in shares of General Mills by 111.3% in the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 34,721 shares of the company's stock worth $2,214,000 after buying an additional 18,289 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in General Mills by 150.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 653 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS traded down $0.30 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $50.38. The company had a trading volume of 7,684,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,606,334. The company has a market capitalization of $27.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.57. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $50.25 and a 12-month high of $75.90.

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

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is a boost from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.84%. General Mills's payout ratio is 52.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GIS. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their price target for the company from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "underweight" rating and set a $51.00 target price (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $60.50.

General Mills Company 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.