Connors Investor Services Inc. Buys 375 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Connors Investor Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 8.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,805 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Radnor Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 4,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,312 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,909,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 14,458 shares of the company’s stock valued at $942,000 after purchasing an additional 1,899 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carl Stuart Investment Advisor Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $200,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Citigroup dropped their target price on General Mills from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Bank of America dropped their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” 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 issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock traded down $1.14 during trading on Friday, reaching $64.38. 2,361,482 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,580,139. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.93 billion, a PE ratio of 14.94, a PEG ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.09. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $60.33 and a twelve month high of $77.63. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $66.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.53.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 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.