General Mills, Inc. $GIS is Advocate Group LLC’s Largest Position

Advocate Group LLC decreased its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 501,734 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,363 shares during the quarter. General Mills comprises about 4.6% of Advocate Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Advocate Group LLC owned approximately 0.09% of General Mills worth $25,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 3.5% during the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 5,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Conning Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 4.6% in the first quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 4,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 0.4% in the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 52,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,127,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.8% in the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 24,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.5% in the first quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 13,452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $804,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 66,593 shares in the company, valued at $3,332,313.72. This trade represents a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GIS. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Mizuho decreased their price target on General Mills from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 19th. Zacks Research raised General Mills from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Bernstein Bank decreased their price target on General Mills from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.82.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock opened at $49.37 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $48.29 and a one year high of $72.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66. The business has a fifty day moving average of $49.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.71. The company has a market cap of $26.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of -0.03.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 15.24%.The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.12%.

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.