Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases New Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 35,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,286,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Adviser Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the third quarter worth $323,000. Sabal Trust CO increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 7,817.6% during the fourth quarter. Sabal Trust CO now owns 290,179 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,902,000 after acquiring an additional 286,514 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC raised its position in shares of General Mills by 29.9% in the 4th quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 2,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.44, for a total transaction of $3,870,008.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,523,044.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.44, for a total value of $3,870,008.64. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,483 shares in the company, valued at $20,523,044.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.21, for a total transaction of $692,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 93,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,462,899.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,782 shares of company stock worth $5,057,820 over the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on GIS. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Mizuho boosted their target price on General Mills from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.18.

General Mills Stock Up 0.7 %

GIS opened at $67.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.19. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.33 and a 52 week high of $90.89. The company has a market capitalization of $38.51 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.12. General Mills had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 26.84%. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.97 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 54.13%.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.