Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Cuts Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 9.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 267,131 shares of the company’s stock after selling 26,273 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in General Mills were worth $18,691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 16.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,219,113,000 after purchasing an additional 8,444,312 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake 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 worth $955,118,000 after buying an additional 2,488,341 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in General Mills by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,858,000 after buying an additional 501,717 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $377,205,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in General Mills by 7.4% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,362,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,459,000 after buying an additional 369,628 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on GIS. Bank of America dropped their price objective 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. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.82.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS stock opened at $66.86 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $65.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.58. The company has a market capitalization of $37.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.54, a PEG ratio of 3.75 and a beta of 0.09. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.33 and a 1-year high of $75.88.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 55.68%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.