Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in General Mills, owning 12.47% of the company with a total value of approximately $4.11 billion after purchasing an additional 134,582 shares in the first quarter.
• General Mills has recently reported a quarterly dividend increase to $0.61 per share, representing an annualized dividend yield of 4.9% and a payout ratio of 59.51%.
• The company's earnings for the last quarter were $0.74 per share, surpassing analyst expectations, despite a 3.3% decline in revenue year-over-year, amounting to $4.56 billion.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 0.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,765,180 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 134,582 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 12.47% of General Mills worth $4,111,470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. LCM Capital Management Inc increased its position in General Mills by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 8,847 shares of the company's stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 43.6% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 2.5% during the first quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 136,740 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,176,000 after buying an additional 3,356 shares during the period. Costello Asset Management INC raised its stake in General Mills by 1,278.3% in the first quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,268 shares of the company's stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 1,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, W.H. Cornerstone Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in General Mills during the first quarter worth $903,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

General Mills Stock Up 1.7%

GIS stock opened at $50.13 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $48.59 and a one year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm's fifty day moving average is $51.90 and its 200 day moving average is $55.99. The firm has a market cap of $27.19 billion, a PE ratio of 12.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of -0.01.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm 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 represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on GIS. Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price target on shares of General Mills and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. 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 research report on Thursday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of General Mills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of 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 issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus 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.

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