7,851 Shares in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Purchased by Keynote Financial Services LLC

Keynote Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 7,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $549,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 199.3% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 409.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFP Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 66.3% during the 1st quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GIS shares. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on General Mills from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.82.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following 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 available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of GIS stock traded up $1.61 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $69.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,271,531 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,484,521. The stock has a market capitalization of $38.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.83 and a beta of 0.09. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $60.33 and a one year high of $75.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.12 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 55.68%.

General Mills Company 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.