Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. Sells 48,455 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 83.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,827 shares of the company’s stock after selling 48,455 shares during the period. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $622,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,219,113,000 after acquiring an additional 8,444,312 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in General Mills by 22.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $955,118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in General Mills by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,858,000 after purchasing an additional 501,717 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter worth about $377,205,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 2.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,478,000 after buying an additional 148,235 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho reduced 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 note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on General Mills in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price target on General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.60.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $74.63 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $60.33 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.65 billion, a PE ratio of 17.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.10. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $68.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.28.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 10th. This is a boost from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.68%.

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.