General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Purchased by Saturna Capital Corp

Saturna Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,062 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the period. Saturna Capital Corp’s holdings in General Mills were worth $450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd 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. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $547,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of General Mills by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 38.3% during the fourth quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 1,048,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,886,000 after purchasing an additional 290,240 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Down 4.8 %

GIS stock opened at $62.15 on Wednesday. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $55.15 and a one year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average of $60.34 and a 200-day moving average of $65.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.26 billion, a PE ratio of 13.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced 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. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

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.