General Mills Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:GIS)

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 9,218 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 71% compared to the typical volume of 5,379 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 0.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 54,713,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,196,559,000 after purchasing an additional 279,268 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of General Mills by 0.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,076,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,536,986,000 after purchasing an additional 216,622 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 2.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,594,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $887,334,000 after purchasing an additional 257,174 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 123,599.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,076,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $928,723,000 after purchasing an additional 11,067,051 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 0.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,852,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $734,907,000 after purchasing an additional 75,902 shares during the period. 75.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS traded down $0.24 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $65.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,236,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,510,987. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $71.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.46. The firm has a market cap of $38.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.24. General Mills has a 52 week low of $64.70 and a 52 week high of $90.89.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 28th. The company reported $1.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.18 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 24.47% and a net margin of 12.91%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that General Mills will post 4.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 10th were given a $0.59 dividend. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.54. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 7th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 54.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GIS shares. Argus upgraded General Mills from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on General Mills from $82.00 to $77.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on General Mills from $77.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, June 29th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on General Mills from $86.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 7th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on General Mills in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.11.

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.