Toronto Dominion Bank Increases Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Toronto Dominion Bank grew its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 7.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 296,453 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 19,510 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank owned 0.05% of General Mills worth $21,893,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GIS. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 10.7% in the second quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 8,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the second quarter valued at $257,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 48.5% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $593,000 after buying an additional 2,769 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in shares of General Mills by 4.0% in the second quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 13,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $876,000 after buying an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 23,189 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,467,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $66.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.47 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.23.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The company’s revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. Equities analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 67,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,721,336. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 15th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.67.

General Mills Company 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.