First City Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

First City Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 25.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,492 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,210 shares during the period. First City Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,219,113,000 after buying an additional 8,444,312 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in General Mills by 22.3% during the first 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 during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 100.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,138,000 after buying an additional 2,368,563 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 6,140.4% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,807,000 after buying an additional 930,271 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in General Mills during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,177,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $74.51 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $69.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.54. The firm has a market cap of $41.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.33 and a 12 month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.09 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho dropped their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.73.

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.