Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt Reduces Holdings in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt reduced its stake in General Mills, Inc. by 91.5%, selling 18,200 shares and leaving it with only 1,692 shares valued at $88,000.
• Despite Skandia's sell-off, other hedge funds increased their stakes in General Mills, with Perkins Coie Trust Co growing its investment by 69.2% and Garde Capital Inc. increasing theirs by 101.5%.
• General Mills announced a dividend increase to $0.61 per share, providing an annualized yield of 4.8% and reflecting a strong financial position amid a quarterly earnings report that exceeded analyst expectations.

Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt decreased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 91.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,692 shares of the company's stock after selling 18,200 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt's holdings in General Mills were worth $88,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 6.2% during the second quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 109,812 shares of the company's stock worth $5,689,000 after purchasing an additional 6,394 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the second quarter worth $52,000. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. increased its stake in General Mills by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Arkfeld Wealth Strategies L.L.C. now owns 4,184 shares of the company's stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 10,380 shares of the company's stock valued at $538,000 after buying an additional 1,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockland Trust Co. increased its stake in General Mills by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 201,562 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,443,000 after buying an additional 4,380 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Zacks Research raised shares of General Mills from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of General Mills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $55.82.

General Mills Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $50.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,148,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,691,362. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.50, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of -0.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.29 and a 12-month high of $74.98. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.76 and a 200-day moving average of $53.62.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. This is a positive change from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is 46.12%.

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.