Virtu Financial LLC Has $2.81 Million Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Virtu Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 35.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,072 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,351 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 7.3% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 522,576 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,245,000 after purchasing an additional 35,494 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 buying an additional 2,341,137 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in General Mills by 7.8% during the first quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 452,844 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,076,000 after buying an additional 32,628 shares during the period. Rock Point Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Mills during the first quarter valued at $3,610,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its position in General Mills by 126.1% during the first quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 774,134 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,285,000 after buying an additional 431,693 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays dropped their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $51.00 price target (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Bank of America lowered their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.73.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $49.80 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $27.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of -0.01. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.90. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.59 and a 52 week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.88% and a net margin of 11.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 10th were issued a $0.61 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 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.