Rock Point Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 60,370 General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Rock Point Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 60,370 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,610,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $496,484,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 2,341,137 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,376,573,000 after buying an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its position in shares of General Mills by 115.2% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,817,780 shares of the company's stock worth $179,690,000 after buying an additional 1,508,680 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company's stock worth $514,101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,483 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $51.39. 7,258,139 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,698,456. The business's fifty day moving average price is $53.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.87 billion and a P/E ratio of 12.53. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.89 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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%. General Mills's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.75%. This is a boost from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. General Mills's payout ratio is 58.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GIS. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $51.00 price objective (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research 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 on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Three 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.