West Family Investments Inc. Sells 4,569 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

West Family Investments Inc. decreased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 55.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,610 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,569 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $216,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in General Mills by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 834,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,211,000 after acquiring an additional 85,612 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 484,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,900,000 after acquiring an additional 46,536 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 34.5% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $581,903,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341,137 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth about $486,000. Finally, Rock Point Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the 1st quarter worth about $3,610,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GIS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a report on Monday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $51.00 price objective (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.73.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $50.03 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $27.14 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $53.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.43. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.86 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.88%. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.51%.

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.