J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Acquires 758 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,224 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 758 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in General Mills by 1.4% during the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 10,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $719,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 17,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its stake in General Mills by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp raised its holdings in General Mills by 40.6% during the 1st quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 540 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the period. Finally, Secure Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 5.0% in the second quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $74.63 on Tuesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.33 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.28. The firm has a market cap of $41.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 3.22%. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased 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 report on Thursday, June 27th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Barclays lowered their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.60.

About General Mills

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.