Alps Advisors Inc. Buys 42,489 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 11.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 419,353 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 42,489 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of General Mills worth $25,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 834,417 shares of the company's stock worth $53,211,000 after purchasing an additional 85,612 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 484,550 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,900,000 after acquiring an additional 46,536 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $581,903,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341,137 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in General Mills by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43,114 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,749,000 after acquiring an additional 5,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,652,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays decreased their target price on 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. UBS Group decreased their target price on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup decreased their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.73.

General Mills Trading Up 0.5%

GIS traded up $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $51.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,847,039 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,709,702. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.86 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $53.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.99 billion and a P/E ratio of 12.59.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.73%. This is an increase from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. General Mills's dividend payout ratio 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.