Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Acquires 6,577 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 94,442 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 6,577 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $6,975,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 41.8% during the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 36,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,309,000 after purchasing an additional 10,765 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in General Mills by 5.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 688,543 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,177,000 after acquiring an additional 38,021 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 16.1% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 696,170 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,711,000 after acquiring an additional 96,712 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of General Mills by 92.5% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,721 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,409,000 after purchasing an additional 23,411 shares during the period. Finally, DNB Asset Management AS lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 119,106 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,535,000 after purchasing an additional 11,334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.00.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,700,411.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,657,676 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Up 0.4 %

GIS opened at $68.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $38.08 billion, a PE ratio of 15.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.55 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.47 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $72.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.19.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.80 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.52%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.68%.

About General Mills

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.