Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Acquires 13,177 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 15.5%, acquiring an additional 13,177 shares, bringing its total to 98,012 shares valued at approximately $5,078,000.
• Various hedge funds have significantly boosted their positions in General Mills, with Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. leading the charge by increasing its holdings by 434.8% in the first quarter.
• General Mills announced a quarterly dividend of $0.61, representing a 5.1% dividend yield, to be paid to shareholders on November 3rd, with a payout ratio of 46.12%.

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 15.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 98,012 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 13,177 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $5,078,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 434.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company's stock worth $1,138,473,000 after acquiring an additional 15,480,835 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,864,819 shares of the company's stock worth $589,814,000 after acquiring an additional 741,432 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 7,161,951 shares of the company's stock worth $428,213,000 after acquiring an additional 315,375 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,986,128 shares of the company's stock worth $417,674,000 after acquiring an additional 634,393 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,403,879 shares of the company's stock worth $382,888,000 after acquiring an additional 414,768 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of General Mills from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped 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 report on Thursday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of General Mills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of General Mills from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $55.82.

General Mills Trading Down 2.4%

GIS opened at $48.18 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $25.70 billion, a PE ratio of 9.11, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of -0.03. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.13 and a 1-year high of $72.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $49.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.59.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts' expectations of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 66,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. This trade represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

General Mills Company 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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