Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,868,508 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of General Mills worth $4,376,573,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $58.21 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.06. 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 cap of $32.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued 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 business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.12%. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 52.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho decreased their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday. They set an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.69.

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 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.