Ballentine Partners LLC Purchases 464 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,689 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 16.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,219,113,000 after buying an additional 8,444,312 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth $377,205,000. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,488,341 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,778,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in General Mills in the first quarter valued at about $36,177,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $75.15 on Tuesday. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $60.33 and a twelve month high of $75.54. The stock has a market cap of $41.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.44, a P/E/G ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.10. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $67.88 and a 200 day moving average of $67.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share 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 firm 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. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on GIS shares. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.07.

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.