Intech Investment Management LLC Lowers Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Intech Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 45.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 218,461 shares of the company’s stock after selling 182,350 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $13,820,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,219,113,000 after purchasing an additional 8,444,312 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 22.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $955,118,000 after buying an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 100.4% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,138,000 after buying an additional 2,368,563 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 6,140.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,807,000 after buying an additional 930,271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,177,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target for the company. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.93.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $74.90 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $41.81 billion, a PE ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.44.

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

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.68%.

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.