Commerce Bank Cuts Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Key Points

• Commerce Bank reduced its stake in General Mills, Inc. by 14.1%, bringing its total shares to 128,329 worth approximately $7.67 million.
• Recent analyst ratings for General Mills have been largely negative, with target price reductions from firms like Goldman Sachs and UBS, leading to a consensus rating of "Hold".
• General Mills announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.61 per share, reflecting a 5.0% yield and a dividend payout ratio of 59.51%.

Commerce Bank reduced its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 14.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,329 shares of the company's stock after selling 21,059 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank's holdings in General Mills were worth $7,673,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills in the first quarter valued at approximately $279,570,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 4,775.2% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,443,981 shares of the company's stock worth $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,338 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 34.5% during the fourth 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 during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its position in General Mills by 115.2% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,817,780 shares of the company's stock valued at $179,690,000 after buying an additional 1,508,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in General Mills by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company's stock valued at $514,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,483 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GIS. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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 research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price objective on General Mills and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $59.73.

General Mills Trading Up 0.1%

GIS stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $49.34. 276,128 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,557,127. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $51.97 and a 200-day moving average of $56.06. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $48.59 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of -0.01.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. General Mills's revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

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