Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Increases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 49.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 66,126 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,789 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.'s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 834,417 shares of the company's stock worth $53,211,000 after acquiring an additional 85,612 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 46,536 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,341,137 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company's stock worth $4,652,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43,114 shares of the company's stock worth $2,749,000 after acquiring an additional 5,853 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on GIS shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price objective on shares of General Mills and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $51.00 target price (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of General Mills from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $60.50.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $50.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,005,253 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,581,841. The company has a 50 day moving average of $54.34 and a 200 day moving average of $58.31. The stock has a market cap of $27.84 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. 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 quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS 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 of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This is an increase from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.83%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is 52.75%.

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.