Natural Investments LLC Takes $245,000 Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Natural Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 3,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $245,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew 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 valued at $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $547,000. Nordea Investment Management AB grew 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 valued at $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lion Street Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. Lion Street Advisors LLC now owns 1,048,863 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,886,000 after purchasing an additional 290,240 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were 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 directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % 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 Performance

General Mills stock opened at $60.03 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $33.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.83. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90.

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

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.24.

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.