Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC Boosts Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 43.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,730 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 525 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the first quarter worth about $279,570,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 4,775.2% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,443,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373,338 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 34.5% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,123,387 shares of the company’s stock valued at $581,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341,137 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its position in General Mills by 115.2% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,817,780 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508,680 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in General Mills by 18.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,061,793 shares of the company’s stock valued at $514,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,483 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $49.31 on Thursday. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $48.59 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of -0.01. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $56.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced 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. The business had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. On average, analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.9%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 59.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” 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 decreased their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $53.00 price target on General Mills and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.73.

About General Mills

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.