Patten & Patten Inc. TN Has $875,000 Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Patten & Patten Inc. TN lifted its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 11.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,506 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,260 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in General Mills were worth $875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $50,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Optimist Retirement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $1,171,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 688,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,177,000 after buying an additional 38,021 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 122.7% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,542,000 after buying an additional 13,043 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS stock traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $64.60. The company had a trading volume of 2,778,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,115,110. The company has a market capitalization of $36.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $66.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.53. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.33 and a 1-year high of $77.63. 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 (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 12.57%. The firm had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 55.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Mizuho cut their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Argus reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of General Mills in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.82.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total transaction of $50,104.70. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares in the company, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.