15,217 Shares in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Bought by Sciencast Management LP

Sciencast Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 15,217 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,150,000. General Mills makes up 0.9% of Sciencast Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 123,599.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,076,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $928,723,000 after acquiring an additional 11,067,051 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth about $382,081,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in General Mills by 101.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,935,085 shares of the company’s stock valued at $592,673,000 after purchasing an additional 3,496,741 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 627.7% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,536,513 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,213,000 after purchasing an additional 3,050,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in General Mills by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,249,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $691,725,000 after buying an additional 1,051,169 shares during the last quarter. 75.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $66.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $38.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.24. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $64.70 and a fifty-two week high of $90.89. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $71.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.69.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 28th. The company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.18 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.91% and a return on equity of 24.47%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 10th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 7th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GIS. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on General Mills from $82.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 7th. 888 restated a “maintains” rating on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, June 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on General Mills from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on General Mills from $82.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.11.

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.