Brookstone Capital Management Increases Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 865.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 192,568 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 172,618 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management's holdings in General Mills were worth $11,514,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 834,417 shares of the company's stock worth $53,211,000 after buying an additional 85,612 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 484,550 shares of the company's stock worth $30,900,000 after acquiring an additional 46,536 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock worth $581,903,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341,137 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company's stock worth $4,652,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43,114 shares of the company's stock worth $2,749,000 after acquiring an additional 5,853 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price target on shares of General Mills and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup lowered their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.73.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS stock traded down $1.36 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $51.79. The stock had a trading volume of 8,130,036 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,666,409. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.19 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $28.09 billion and a PE ratio of 12.63. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $53.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.75.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted 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. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. General Mills's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This is a boost from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.54%.

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.