HM Payson & Co. Sells 2,130 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

HM Payson & Co. trimmed its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 8.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,062 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,130 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,439,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in General Mills by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 834,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,211,000 after buying an additional 85,612 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 484,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,900,000 after purchasing an additional 46,536 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,652,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after purchasing an additional 5,853 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen cut General Mills from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.73.

General Mills Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $53.13 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $53.93 and its 200-day moving average is $57.87. The stock has a market cap of $28.82 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.96. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $50.19 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.60 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 24.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 10th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.59%. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.54%.

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.