Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Buys 10,529 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC raised its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 32.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,992 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 10,529 shares during the quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $2,570,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,376,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company's stock worth $923,907,000 after buying an additional 136,895 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock worth $581,903,000 after buying an additional 2,341,137 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in General Mills by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company's stock worth $514,101,000 after buying an additional 1,253,483 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $496,484,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, General Mills has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.73.

General Mills Stock Down 0.8%

GIS stock traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $50.86. 3,297,465 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,591,240. The company has a market cap of $27.59 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.41. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $52.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.76. 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 $49.04 and a 52 week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. General Mills's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company 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 is a boost from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.80%. General Mills's payout ratio is 59.51%.

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.