Northern Trust Corp Sells 291,507 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Northern Trust Corp reduced its stake in General Mills, Inc. by 3.6%, owning approximately 7.77 million shares valued at $464.6 million after selling 291,507 shares in the first quarter.
• General Mills recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.61 per share, which equates to an annualized yield of 4.9%, up from the previous $0.60 dividend.
• The stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average price target of $59.73, while recent analyst upgrades and downgrades have varied widely among firms.

Northern Trust Corp trimmed its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 3.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,770,286 shares of the company's stock after selling 291,507 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.41% of General Mills worth $464,585,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Perkins Coie Trust Co boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 69.2% during the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 516 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the first quarter worth about $34,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the first quarter worth approximately $37,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price objective on shares of General Mills and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays dropped 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 report on Thursday, June 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $59.13.

General Mills Trading Down 1.8%

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded down $0.9130 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $49.2670. The company had a trading volume of 1,442,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,557,099. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $48.59 and a one year high of $75.90. 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 company has a market capitalization of $26.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of -0.01. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $50.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.14.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. General Mills'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, research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.