OLD Republic International Corp Buys 5,700 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

OLD Republic International Corp increased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 289,200 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,700 shares during the period. OLD Republic International Corp owned 0.05% of General Mills worth $17,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GIS. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and set a $51.00 target price (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of General Mills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Finally, 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $59.73.

General Mills Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of General Mills stock traded up $0.56 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $52.40. The stock had a trading volume of 1,241,340 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,653,748. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $53.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.75. The stock has a market cap of $28.43 billion and a PE ratio of 12.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.43. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.19 and a 12 month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released 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. The firm 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%. The business's revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This is a positive change from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.66%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.