M&G Plc Invests $1.85 Million in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 29,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,846,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,862 shares of the company’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 25.3% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 113,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,397,000 after acquiring an additional 22,938 shares during the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $339,000. Tennessee Valley Asset Management Partners purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth $69,000. Finally, ORG Partners LLC raised its holdings in General Mills by 23.3% in the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 915 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.71.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS stock traded up $0.90 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.20. 2,583,772 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,046,500. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.92. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.33 and a 52 week high of $74.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.09.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.68%.

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.