General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Purchased by Arkadios Wealth Advisors

Key Points

• Arkadios Wealth Advisors significantly increased its stake in General Mills, owning 56,331 shares after a 54.9% increase during the 1st quarter, valued at approximately $3.37 million.
• General Mills announced a quarterly dividend of $0.61, up from the previous $0.60, reflecting a 4.96% yield with a payout ratio of 59.51%.
• In the latest quarterly earnings, General Mills reported an EPS of $0.74, surpassing analyst expectations, despite a 3.3% decline in revenue compared to the same period last year.

Arkadios Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 54.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 56,331 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 19,969 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors' holdings in General Mills were worth $3,368,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Perkins Coie Trust Co lifted its stake 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 worth $31,000 after buying an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of General Mills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and issued a $51.00 price objective (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.73.

General Mills Stock Down 0.1%

GIS stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $48.94. 5,271,208 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,488,978. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.67. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.59 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $52.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.26. The company has a market cap of $26.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of -0.01.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. General Mills's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This is a positive change from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.