Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 1,868,508 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,868,508 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 12.45% of General Mills worth $4,376,573,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GIS. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Barclays decreased their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Bank of America cut 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 report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.69.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $58.21 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.08 billion, a PE ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.