4,675,867 Shares in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Acquired by Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,675,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $279,570,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.85% of General Mills as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $798,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 414,806 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,453,000 after buying an additional 33,292 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 808,678 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,569,000 after buying an additional 20,734 shares during the last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,524 shares of the company's stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 22,968 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,465,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE GIS traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, reaching $51.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,609,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,904,401. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.72 billion and a PE ratio of 12.46. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $52.69 and a 200 day moving average of $56.59. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $49.04 and a one year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders 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 yield of 4.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is currently 59.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GIS. The Goldman Sachs Group cut General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Bank of America dropped their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price target on General Mills and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered General Mills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $59.73.

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.