iA Global Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 92.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 48,721 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 23,411 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $377,205,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised 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 purchasing an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 106.9% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,442,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,254,000 after acquiring an additional 1,778,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 165.6% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,049,750 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,381,000 after acquiring an additional 654,550 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS traded up $1.13 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $68.80. 3,125,317 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,091,582. The business’s 50 day moving average is $65.60 and its 200-day moving average is $66.62. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $60.33 and a 1 year high of $75.77. The company has a market capitalization of $38.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.65.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 55.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Argus reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.