General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Sold by ProVise Management Group LLC

ProVise Management Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,703 shares of the company’s stock after selling 294 shares during the quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $740,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter worth about $568,000. Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 7.2% during the second quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 23,834 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,508,000 after buying an additional 1,606 shares during the period. Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in General Mills during the second quarter worth about $253,000. Sienna Gestion increased its position in shares of General Mills by 1.0% during the second quarter. Sienna Gestion now owns 74,882 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,735,000 after acquiring an additional 757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,829,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $115,881,000 after acquiring an additional 12,961 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock opened at $74.90 on Friday. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.44. The stock has a market cap of $41.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $60.33 and a 12-month high of $75.90.

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

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a 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 55.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.93.

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.