Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 3,338 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $234,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its position in General Mills by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 6,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $410,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 88.7% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 89,011 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,798,000 after acquiring an additional 41,830 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 230.8% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 93,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,089,000 after acquiring an additional 65,218 shares during the period. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,705 shares of the company’s stock worth $437,000 after acquiring an additional 943 shares during the period. Finally, Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth $52,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,706.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price 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. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.82.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS traded up $0.49 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $66.32. 2,548,167 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,574,117. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.02 billion, a PE ratio of 15.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.09. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $65.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.53. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.33 and a 1-year high of $76.15.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. 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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.