Perkins Capital Management Inc. Has $685,000 Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Perkins Capital Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 33.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,450 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,875 shares during the period. Perkins Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $685,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GIS. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in General Mills by 3.2% during the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 588,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,172,000 after acquiring an additional 18,210 shares in the last quarter. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $258,000. Empirical Finance LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 20,381 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 58,887 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,521,000 after purchasing an additional 5,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 19.6% in the 1st quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 11,867 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,947 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 target price on shares of General Mills and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, June 26th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on General Mills from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.73.

General Mills Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:GIS opened at $51.10 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.04 and a 52 week 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 $52.69 and its 200-day moving average is $56.59. The firm has a market cap of $27.72 billion and a P/E ratio of 12.46.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.77%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.51%.

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.