Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 178.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 358,466 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 229,902 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned about 0.07% of General Mills worth $21,433,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GIS. Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in General Mills by 54.2% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 92,654 shares of the company's stock worth $5,909,000 after acquiring an additional 32,555 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,214,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $798,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 45.8% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 52,616 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,355,000 after purchasing an additional 16,522 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 414,806 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,453,000 after purchasing an additional 33,292 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price target on General Mills and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group dropped their price target on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target 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. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target 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. Two equities research 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $59.73.

General Mills Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:GIS opened at $50.13 on Monday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.62 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $27.19 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.23. The business has a fifty day moving average of $53.05 and a 200-day moving average of $56.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.87%. This is a boost from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.

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