Private Advisor Group LLC Lowers Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Private Advisor Group LLC decreased its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 9.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 84,666 shares of the company's stock after selling 8,638 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $5,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Perkins Coie Trust Co boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 69.2% during the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 516 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 1,096.0% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 598 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on GIS. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $51.00 price objective (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 target price on General Mills and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $59.73.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS opened at $49.14 on Tuesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.04 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $53.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $56.94. The company has a market capitalization of $26.66 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.99. 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 (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $4.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. General Mills's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. Research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. This is a positive change from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. General Mills's payout ratio is currently 59.51%.

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.

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