Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 35,626 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 6.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 583,426 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 35,626 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $18,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,181,608,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the second quarter worth about $129,298,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $126,097,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at $121,707,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in General Mills in the second quarter worth approximately $105,889,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GIS. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $34.00 price objective (up from $33.00) on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of General Mills from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on General Mills from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $36.59.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $34.55 on Wednesday. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $31.17 and a one year high of $49.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.48 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.14.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 23rd. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.03. General Mills had a negative net margin of 4.89% and a positive return on equity of 21.86%. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.35 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 13th were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 13th. General Mills’s payout ratio is -146.99%.

General Mills Profile

General Mills, Inc. is a food company that develops, manufactures and markets branded consumer foods. Its products include breakfast cereals, snack bars, baking mixes and refrigerated dough, along with meals and pet food. Its brands include Cheerios, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury and Blue Buffalo. The company traces its history to the Minneapolis Milling Company, established in 1866. The General Mills name was adopted in 1928 by the Washburn Crosby Company, a predecessor of today’s business.