Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Grows Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 83.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,085 shares of the company’s stock after buying 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 modified their holdings of the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $59.09 on Monday. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.61. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $55.15 and a one year high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $32.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. General Mills’s revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GIS shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.69.

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.