Sowell Financial Services LLC Purchases 9,019 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 17.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 61,644 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,019 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GIS. State Street Corp increased its holdings in General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in General Mills by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,082,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,902,000 after acquiring an additional 360,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in General Mills by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,004,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,385,000 after acquiring an additional 207,346 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Trading Up 3.7 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $64.53 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $35.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.00.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.06.

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 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.