Strs Ohio Buys New Shares in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has invested approximately $9.51 million in General Mills, acquiring 159,000 shares during the first quarter.
• General Mills recently reported a net margin of 11.78% and a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.74, exceeding analyst estimates.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, which represents an annualized yield of 4.9%, marking an increase from the previous dividend of $0.60.

Strs Ohio acquired a new position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 159,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,507,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GIS. Intrua Financial LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 3,962 shares of the company's stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 319 shares during the period. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 18,624 shares of the company's stock worth $1,114,000 after buying an additional 1,869 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 236,381 shares of the company's stock worth $14,133,000 after buying an additional 20,810 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 18,080 shares of the company's stock worth $1,081,000 after buying an additional 1,429 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Mills by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 194,074 shares of the company's stock worth $11,604,000 after buying an additional 10,213 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded General Mills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. 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 report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group decreased their target price on General Mills from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 target price on General Mills and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $58.80.

General Mills Stock Up 1.4%

GIS stock traded up $0.71 on Thursday, reaching $49.89. 7,309,079 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,633,453. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $48.29 and a one year high of $75.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $27.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of -0.02. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.90.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 15.24%.The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.07 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. This is a boost from General Mills's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.51%.

About General Mills

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.