DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Boosts Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 5.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 967,634 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 54,308 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.18% of General Mills worth $56,947,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $496,484,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $581,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341,137 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,376,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,508 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in General Mills by 115.2% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,817,780 shares of the company's stock valued at $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508,680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in General Mills by 18.4% during 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 last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $51.00 target price (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group decreased their target price on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup cut their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded General Mills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.73.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $51.60. 4,847,039 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,704,335. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.86 and a 1-year high of $75.90. 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 50 day moving average of $53.49 and a 200-day moving average of $57.49. The stock has a market cap of $27.99 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.59.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. General Mills's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. Analysts expect 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 will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This is a boost from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. General Mills's payout ratio is 59.51%.

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.