Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Reduces Holdings in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reduced its stake in General Mills, Inc. by 67.0%, selling 714,818 shares and now holding approximately 351,939 shares valued at $21 million.
• General Mills reported a net margin of 11.78% with earnings per share of $0.74 for the most recent quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations but observing a 3.3% decline in revenue year-over-year.
• The company recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.61 per share, increasing from $0.60, representing an annualized yield of 5.0%.

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board reduced its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 67.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 351,939 shares of the company's stock after selling 714,818 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned about 0.06% of General Mills worth $21,042,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GIS. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 36,739 shares of the company's stock worth $2,343,000 after purchasing an additional 6,870 shares in the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 43.1% in the 4th quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 29,096 shares of the company's stock worth $1,855,000 after purchasing an additional 8,769 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock worth $581,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341,137 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $76,058,000. Finally, Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $521,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of General Mills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $45.00 price target (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $51.00 price target (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.13.

General Mills Trading Up 1.8%

GIS traded up $0.91 during trading on Friday, hitting $50.52. 5,327,330 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,596,755. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of -0.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $50.26 and a 200 day moving average of $54.60. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.29 and a 12-month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. General Mills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.580-3.790 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

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