Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Lowers Position in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. reduced its stake in General Mills, Inc. by 67.5% in the first quarter, selling 39,187 shares and leaving it with 18,860 shares valued at approximately $1.13 million.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for General Mills, with a significant downgrade from Goldman Sachs, lowering the price target from $68.00 to $58.00, while several other firms adjusted targets down as well.
• General Mills recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.61, up from the previous dividend of $0.60, representing an annualized yield of 4.9%.

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 67.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 18,860 shares of the company's stock after selling 39,187 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 434.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company's stock worth $1,138,473,000 after purchasing an additional 15,480,835 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the 1st quarter valued at about $279,570,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 4,775.2% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,443,981 shares of the company's stock worth $205,916,000 after buying an additional 3,373,338 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 2,341,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in General Mills by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company's stock worth $514,101,000 after buying an additional 1,253,483 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded down $0.2460 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $49.6640. 2,805,859 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,582,991. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.11 and a 200 day moving average of $55.37. 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 company has a market cap of $26.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of -0.01. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $48.59 and a one year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. General Mills has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.580-3.790 EPS. As a group, equities research 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 issued a $0.61 dividend. 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. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is presently 59.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price target on shares of General Mills and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays dropped their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $45.00 target price (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.13.

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.