Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Acquires New Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in General Mills by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,242,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,423,000 after buying an additional 23,400 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,858,000 after purchasing an additional 501,717 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $377,205,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in General Mills by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,003,306 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,909,000 after purchasing an additional 235,938 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in General Mills by 106.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,442,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GIS. Bank of America dropped their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Barclays cut their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Citigroup decreased their target price on General Mills from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.44.

General Mills Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE GIS opened at $63.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $68.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.74. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.33 and a 12 month high of $77.63.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.12 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.76%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,706.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.