Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Purchases 951 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P boosted its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 83.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,085 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 951 shares during the quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in General Mills were worth $133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares during the period. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $547,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 4,839 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $2,749,000 after buying an additional 5,853 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $59.09 on Monday. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $59.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.61. The firm has a market cap of $32.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.69.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.