General Mills, Inc. $GIS Shares Bought by Empowered Funds LLC

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 9.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 203,543 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,322 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $10,546,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 32.4% in the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 42,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,570,000 after buying an additional 10,529 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 98.0% in the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 21,493 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,285,000 after acquiring an additional 10,640 shares during the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in General Mills by 4.1% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 42,895 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,693 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its stake in General Mills by 3.3% during the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 607,718 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,335,000 after acquiring an additional 19,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M. Kulyk & Associates LLC raised its position in General Mills by 9.3% in the first quarter. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC now owns 83,477 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,991,000 after purchasing an additional 7,071 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 have recently weighed in on GIS shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. HSBC lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on General Mills from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $3,332,313.72. This trade represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

General Mills stock opened at $47.74 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $45.80 and a 52-week high of $67.40. The firm has a market cap of $25.47 billion, a PE ratio of 9.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of -0.04. The company’s 50 day moving average is $48.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.68.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 9th will be given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 9th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. 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.