Vontobel Holding Ltd. Lowers Position in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Vontobel Holding Ltd. reduced its stake in General Mills, Inc. by 54.0%, now owning 193,378 shares after selling 227,460 shares in the second quarter.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their positions in General Mills during the first quarter, with Charles Schwab Investment Management boosting its stake by 434.8%.
• General Mills declared a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, representing an annualized yield of 5.0%, with the ex-dividend date on October 10.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 54.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 193,378 shares of the company's stock after selling 227,460 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.'s holdings in General Mills were worth $10,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GIS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at about $279,570,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4,775.2% in the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,443,981 shares of the company's stock valued at $205,916,000 after acquiring an additional 3,373,338 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at about $92,717,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 178.1% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,520,449 shares of the company's stock valued at $90,908,000 after purchasing an additional 973,798 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total transaction of $200,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 66,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $49.20 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $52.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm has a market cap of $26.24 billion, a PE ratio of 9.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of -0.03. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $48.29 and a 1-year high of $72.55.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 business posted $1.07 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is 46.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an "underweight" rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 8th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of General Mills from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of General Mills in a research note on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $55.82.

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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