Blue Trust Inc. Raises Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 133.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,349 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,455 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 22.1% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,565,000 after acquiring an additional 43,086 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 105.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $547,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 129.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,649,000 after buying an additional 104,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $60.37 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $33.28 billion, a PE ratio of 13.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.94 and a 1-year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on GIS shares. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.94.

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.