LPL Financial LLC Lowers Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC has reduced its stake in General Mills by 2.9%, selling 23,302 shares, and now holds 785,376 shares valued at approximately $46.96 million.
• General Mills reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.74, surpassing estimates, despite a revenue decline of 3.3% year-over-year.
• The company announced a dividend increase to $0.61 per share, which reflects a 5.0% yield and will be paid to shareholders on August 1st.

LPL Financial LLC reduced its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 2.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 785,376 shares of the company's stock after selling 23,302 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.14% of General Mills worth $46,958,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 484,550 shares of the company's stock worth $30,900,000 after buying an additional 46,536 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 522,576 shares of the company's stock worth $31,245,000 after buying an additional 35,494 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 34.5% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company's stock worth $581,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341,137 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $486,000. Finally, Rock Point Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at $3,610,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE GIS traded up $0.29 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $49.31. The stock had a trading volume of 2,654,006 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,591,848. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $48.59 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $26.74 billion, a PE ratio of 12.04, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of -0.01. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $52.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.15.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The firm had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. The business's revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research note 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 note on Thursday, June 26th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group dropped 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.