Mackenzie Financial Corp Buys 216,665 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Key Points

• Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in General Mills, Inc. by 45.1%, acquiring a total of 696,604 shares valued at approximately $41.65 million.
• General Mills reported earnings of $0.74 per share, exceeding analysts' estimates, but its quarterly revenue of $4.56 billion fell short of expectations.
• The company declared a dividend increase from $0.60 to $0.61 per share, with an annualized yield of 4.88%.

Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 45.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 696,604 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 216,665 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned about 0.13% of General Mills worth $41,650,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Brio Consultants LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter worth $608,000. TCW Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 25,006 shares of the company's stock worth $1,495,000 after purchasing an additional 1,945 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 588,267 shares of the company's stock worth $35,172,000 after purchasing an additional 18,210 shares during the last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter worth $258,000. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 20,381 shares of the company's stock worth $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GIS. Bank of America reduced 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. Barclays reduced their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price objective on General Mills and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.73.

General Mills Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of GIS traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $48.94. The stock had a trading volume of 5,271,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,488,978. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $52.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.33. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.59 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The firm 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.43.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $4.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date is 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 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.