730 Shares in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Acquired by Steph & Co.

Steph & Co. bought a new stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 730 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in General Mills by 9.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in General Mills by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,151,000 after acquiring an additional 323,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in General Mills by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,347,000 after acquiring an additional 263,188 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $59.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.94 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Barclays dropped their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.31.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,541 shares of company stock worth $3,321,170. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.