General Mills, Inc. $GIS Stock Position Raised by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank increased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 6.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,659,100 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 104,400 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in General Mills were worth $85,958,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 2.5% during the first quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 13,829 shares of the company’s stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Burney Co. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 16.6% in the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 12,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,827 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 9.8% in the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 57,054 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,411,000 after purchasing an additional 5,080 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 12.2% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 236,282 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,127,000 after purchasing an additional 25,633 shares during the period. Finally, Stevens Capital Management LP grew its position in General Mills by 2.5% during the first quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 8,541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of General Mills from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on General Mills from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. UBS Group cut their price target on General Mills from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on General Mills from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.82.

General Mills Stock Up 1.1%

General Mills stock opened at $48.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.40. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $45.80 and a fifty-two week high of $67.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $48.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.56. The firm has a market cap of $25.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of -0.04.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 15.24%.The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.12%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total transaction of $200,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares in the company, valued at $3,332,313.72. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.