Founders Financial Securities LLC Acquires Shares of 5,250 General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Founders Financial Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $367,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $377,205,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 106.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,442,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,254,000 after acquiring an additional 1,778,345 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 257.7% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,061,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,954,000 after acquiring an additional 765,070 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 165.6% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 1,049,750 shares of the company’s stock valued at $68,381,000 after acquiring an additional 654,550 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6,893.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 512,139 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,361,000 after acquiring an additional 504,816 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Bank of America cut their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Barclays cut their price target on General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.44.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $63.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.74. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $77.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.31 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.12.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 54.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value of $50,104.70. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.