Sowell Financial Services LLC Buys 7,666 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Sowell Financial Services LLC has increased its stake in General Mills, Inc. by 12.1%, acquiring a total of 70,906 shares worth approximately $3.67 million.
• General Mills reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.86, surpassing estimates, but its revenue declined by 6.8% year over year, amounting to $4.52 billion.
• The company also announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.61 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 4.8%.

Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 70,906 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,666 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $3,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 434.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,138,473,000 after acquiring an additional 15,480,835 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in General Mills in the first quarter valued at $279,570,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 4,775.2% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,443,981 shares of the company's stock worth $205,916,000 after buying an additional 3,373,338 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 1st quarter worth about $92,717,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 6,607.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,171,705 shares of the company's stock worth $70,056,000 after purchasing an additional 1,154,235 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on GIS. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. HSBC reduced their target price on General Mills from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an "underweight" rating and set a $45.00 price objective (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $55.82.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $50.11. The company had a trading volume of 8,412,889 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,365,710. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $49.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $53.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $26.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.47, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of -0.02. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.29 and a 52 week high of $74.98.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The company's revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a $0.61 dividend. This is an increase from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.12%.

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.