Optimist Retirement Group LLC Increases Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Optimist Retirement Group LLC increased its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 7.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,834 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,606 shares during the period. Optimist Retirement Group LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $253,000. Sienna Gestion boosted its position in General Mills by 1.0% during the second quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 74,882 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in General Mills by 0.7% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,829,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,881,000 after purchasing an additional 12,961 shares during the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its position in shares of General Mills by 2.9% in the second quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 48,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,061,000 after buying an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 131,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,303,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Mizuho cut their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.60.

General Mills Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $74.99 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $41.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.40, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $69.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.40. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $60.33 and a 12-month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.68%.

About General Mills

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.