Federated Hermes Inc. Purchases 162,495 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 42.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 546,651 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 162,495 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $34,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 834,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,211,000 after buying an additional 85,612 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $547,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 15.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,749,000 after acquiring an additional 5,853 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GIS. Citigroup decreased their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho dropped 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 note on Thursday, March 20th. One 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 MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.69.

General Mills Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $58.61 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.91 and its 200 day moving average is $64.00. The stock has a market cap of $32.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.15 and a 52-week high of $75.90. 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 (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 52.75%.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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.