J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Buys 758 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 7.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,224 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 758 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in General Mills by 199.3% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its holdings in General Mills by 409.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 418 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares during the last quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC increased its position in General Mills by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the period. RFP Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 66.3% during the first quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 434 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perkins Coie Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 769.2% during the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 452 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Mizuho decreased 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 report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, August 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.60.

General Mills Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $74.63 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $41.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.28. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $60.33 and a 12-month high of $75.90. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 3.22%. General Mills’s dividend 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 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.