Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 11,287 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. has increased its stake in General Mills, Inc. by 4.6%, holding a total of 259,074 shares valued at approximately $15.47 million at the end of the recent quarter.
• Several institutional investors, including Charles Schwab Investment Management and Ameriprise Financial, have significantly boosted their holdings in General Mills, manfing that 75.71% of the company's stock is now owned by hedge funds and institutional investors.
• General Mills recently announced a dividend increase to $0.61 per share, improving from the previous $0.60, resulting in an annualized yield of 4.9%.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 259,074 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,287 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in General Mills were worth $15,471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $256,000. Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 3,980 shares of the company's stock valued at $254,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 53.2% in the fourth quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 20,474 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,306,000 after buying an additional 7,112 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 98.6% during the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 16,651 shares of the company's stock worth $1,062,000 after acquiring an additional 8,265 shares during the period. Finally, Regal Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in General Mills by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,580 shares of the company's stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 487 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

General Mills stock traded down $0.02 on Friday, hitting $49.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,919,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,226,817. The firm has a market cap of $26.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of -0.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $51.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.52. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $48.59 and a one year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. 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 dividend yield of 4.9%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of General Mills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 3rd. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average 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.