General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Sold by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC significantly reduced its stake in General Mills by 82.5%, from 59,071 shares to 10,312 shares, valued at $617,000.
• Several other hedge funds, including O Shaughnessy Asset Management and Ameriprise Financial, have increased their investments in General Mills, highlighting a total of 75.71% institutional ownership of the stock.
• General Mills announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.61 per share, reflecting a 4.77% yield, with the ex-dividend date set for Thursday, July 10th.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lessened its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 82.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,312 shares of the company's stock after selling 48,759 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $923,907,000 after purchasing an additional 136,895 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock valued at $581,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341,137 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in General Mills by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company's stock valued at $514,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,483 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $496,484,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,846,576 shares of the company's stock valued at $436,606,000 after purchasing an additional 561,731 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS stock traded up $0.15 on Friday, reaching $51.10. The company had a trading volume of 4,609,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,684,597. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.04 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company's fifty day moving average is $52.69 and its 200 day moving average is $56.56. The company has a market cap of $27.72 billion and a P/E ratio of 12.46.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. General Mills's revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.77%. This is a positive change from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is presently 59.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered General Mills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays lowered their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.73.

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.