General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Acquired by Archer Investment Corp

Archer Investment Corp lifted its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 858.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,246 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares during the quarter. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in General Mills were worth $79,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 8,444,312 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $377,205,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in 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 lifted its holdings in General Mills by 106.9% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,442,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,177,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $73.58 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $74.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $67.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.73. The company has a market capitalization of $41.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.09.

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 net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.71.

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 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.