Kentucky Retirement Systems Decreases Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,542 shares of the company’s stock after selling 585 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in General Mills were worth $2,691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 16.3% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in General Mills by 22.3% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $955,118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,488,341 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in General Mills by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,858,000 after acquiring an additional 501,717 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in General Mills by 2.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,478,000 after acquiring an additional 148,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in General Mills by 7.4% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,362,663 shares of the company’s stock valued at $376,459,000 after purchasing an additional 369,628 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.73.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $74.51 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $60.33 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.59 billion, a PE ratio of 17.29, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.51.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 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 company had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.09 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. 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.