General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Acquired by Natixis

Natixis boosted its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 169,573 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,228 shares during the period. Natixis’ holdings in General Mills were worth $10,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Barclays PLC grew its stake in General Mills by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,634,280 shares of the company’s stock valued at $120,691,000 after acquiring an additional 19,290 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.6% in the third quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 108,475 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,011,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the third quarter valued at approximately $403,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 138.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 37,487 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,768,000 after purchasing an additional 21,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Optimist Retirement Group LLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 19.0% during the 3rd quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 28,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,095,000 after purchasing an additional 4,528 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on 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 lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $57.52 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.50, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.87.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given 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 4.17%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.75%.

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.