Invesco Ltd. Boosts Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in General Mills by 6.9%, now owning approximately 6.4 million shares worth about $382.89 million.
• General Mills recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, reflecting an increase from the previous $0.60, resulting in an annualized yield of 4.9%.
• The company's quarterly earnings report showed $0.74 EPS, exceeding estimates, but revenue decreased by 3.3% year-over-year.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 6.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,403,879 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 414,768 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.16% of General Mills worth $382,888,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Perkins Coie Trust Co lifted its position 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 valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at about $34,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 1,096.0% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 598 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE GIS traded down $0.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $49.65. 6,919,055 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,226,817. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.59 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $26.93 billion, a PE ratio of 12.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of -0.01.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research 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 research report on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 target price on General Mills and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, General Mills has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.73.

General Mills 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.