National Bank of Canada FI Has $33.48 Million Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 21.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 529,187 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 92,495 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in General Mills were worth $33,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the period. Aveo Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $213,000. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 14,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $916,000 after buying an additional 1,833 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $829,000. Finally, Smithfield Trust Co grew its position in shares of General Mills by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Smithfield Trust Co now owns 4,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 806 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.56.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $75.08 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $41.91 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.09. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.33 and a 12 month high of $75.54. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.85. 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 (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business 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. 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 (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.