General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Purchased by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 100.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,368,563 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.85% of General Mills worth $299,138,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GIS. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 7,862 shares of the company’s stock valued at $512,000 after acquiring an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $775,000 after buying an additional 1,459 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 22,225 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,448,000 after buying an additional 5,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in General Mills by 106.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,442,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,254,000 after buying an additional 1,778,345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $73.11 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.05. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $40.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.25 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17.

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

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid 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 3.28%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on General Mills in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Argus restated a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.07.

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 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.