DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Grows Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 5.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 967,634 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 54,308 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.18% of General Mills worth $56,947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Perkins Coie Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 69.2% in the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 516 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Transce3nd LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS traded up $0.93 on Thursday, reaching $51.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,066,081 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,676,020. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $27.95 billion and a P/E ratio of 12.58. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $53.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.66. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.89 and a 12-month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 positive change from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.74%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded General Mills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.73.

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.