Cetera Trust Company N.A Buys New Shares in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Cetera Trust Company N.A bought a new stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $50,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,242,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,423,000 after purchasing an additional 23,400 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,995,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,608,000 after purchasing an additional 379,702 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,527,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $468,346,000 after purchasing an additional 44,933 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 48.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,051,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,728,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,102,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,519,000 after acquiring an additional 96,935 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of GIS opened at $71.17 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $67.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.32, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $60.33 and a 1-year high of $90.89.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.12. General Mills had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 26.84%. The business had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.13%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 7,671 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.15, for a total value of $492,094.65. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 102,924 shares in the company, valued at $6,602,574.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 7,671 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.15, for a total transaction of $492,094.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 102,924 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,602,574.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,523,044.52. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 77,782 shares of company stock worth $5,057,820. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $77.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.18.

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