Wayfinding Financial LLC Acquires New Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Wayfinding Financial LLC bought a new position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 3,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its position in General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth $547,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,652,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 64.5% in the fourth 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 during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of GIS opened at $58.78 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $32.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.28. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GIS. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Barclays lowered their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Mills Company 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.