Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Purchases New Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co purchased a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $362,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in General Mills by 41.8% during the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 36,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,309,000 after buying an additional 10,765 shares during the last quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,171,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 688,543 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,177,000 after purchasing an additional 38,021 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 696,170 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,711,000 after purchasing an additional 96,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 164.1% in the 4th quarter. Mitchell Sinkler & Starr PA now owns 18,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,307,000 after purchasing an additional 11,298 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GIS shares. Barclays lowered their price target on General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup boosted their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.60.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $74.99 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 12-month low of $60.33 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $69.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.40. The firm has a market cap of $41.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.40, a PEG ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10.

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

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors 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%. 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. General Mills’s payout ratio is 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.