PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Decreases Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Key Points

• PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its stake in General Mills by 2.0%, now owning 1,461,790 shares valued at approximately $87.4 million.
• General Mills recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.61 from the previous $0.60, resulting in an annual yield of 5.0%.
• Analysts have mixed views on General Mills, with UBS Group and Barclays lowering their target prices, while Royal Bank of Canada upgraded their rating to "outperform."

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 2.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,461,790 shares of the company's stock after selling 30,504 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of General Mills worth $87,400,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. LSV Asset Management grew its position in General Mills by 33.2% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 3,753,710 shares of the company's stock worth $224,434,000 after acquiring an additional 935,930 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the first quarter valued at about $1,565,000. SPC Financial Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 1.5% in the first quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 13,452 shares of the company's stock worth $804,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in General Mills by 36.6% in the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 18,688 shares of the company's stock worth $1,117,000 after buying an additional 5,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 10.4% in the first quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 33,215 shares of the company's stock worth $1,986,000 after purchasing an additional 3,117 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $49.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 482,205 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,557,301. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $26.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of -0.01. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $51.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.06. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.59 and a 1-year high of $75.90.

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

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.61 dividend. This is a positive change from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. General Mills's payout ratio is 59.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price objective on shares of General Mills and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of General Mills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.