HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 241,567 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,867,515 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 241,567 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $137,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 100.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,138,000 after buying an additional 2,368,563 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in General Mills by 6,140.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,807,000 after acquiring an additional 930,271 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 6,114.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 450,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,266,000 after purchasing an additional 443,202 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in General Mills by 6.1% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,151,000 after purchasing an additional 323,090 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 7.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,347,000 after purchasing an additional 263,188 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Up 1.2 %

GIS stock opened at $67.06 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.47 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $68.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.47.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. General Mills’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade 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 Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,700,411.92. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 67,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,721,336. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GIS. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.67.

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.