Fisher Asset Management LLC Increases Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 209,730 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 22,474 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $13,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 61.5% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 150.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GIS. Mizuho cut their price target on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup cut their target price on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen cut their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.06.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $62.07 on Tuesday. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.15 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.49, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.10. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.18.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

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.