DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Buys 54,308 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

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

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Perpetual Ltd boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 3.5% in the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 5,411 shares of the company's stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the period. Conning Inc. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 4,212 shares of the company's stock worth $252,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. City Center Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.4% during the first quarter. City Center Advisors LLC now owns 6,071 shares of the company's stock worth $363,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares during the period. Security National Bank of SO Dak raised its position in shares of General Mills by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Security National Bank of SO Dak now owns 31,290 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,995,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canopy Partners LLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Canopy Partners LLC now owns 5,212 shares of the company's stock valued at $332,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho lowered their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen lowered General Mills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. UBS Group dropped their price target on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price objective on shares of General Mills and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.73.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $51.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.12 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $50.19 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.71.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company had revenue of $4.56 billion during 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.61 dividend. This is a positive change from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is currently 58.54%.

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.

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