Equitable Trust Co. Acquires 19,970 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Equitable Trust Co. boosted its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 176.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,287 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,970 shares during the quarter. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,979,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Rise Advisors LLC lifted 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 during the period. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted 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 during the period. RFP Financial Group LLC lifted 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 during the period. Finally, Perkins Coie Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 769.2% during the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 452 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.71.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of General Mills stock traded up $0.93 during trading on Friday, reaching $72.29. 3,645,786 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,912,838. The company has a market capitalization of $40.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a P/E/G ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 0.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.38. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $74.45.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.68%.

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.