Bridges Investment Management Inc. Purchases 2,252 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 31.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,493 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,252 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. North Star Investment Management Corp. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 17,228 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,205,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its position in shares of General Mills by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp raised its position in shares of General Mills by 40.6% during the 1st quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 540 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC raised its position in General Mills by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, LCM Capital Management Inc raised its position in General Mills by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 8,521 shares of the company’s stock worth $539,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GIS. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.73.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $74.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $69.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.54. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $60.33 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $41.59 billion, a PE ratio of 17.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.80 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.