Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 27,847 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GISFree Report) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 792,993 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,847 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $58,563,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 21.1% during the second quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 5,230 shares of the company’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares in the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 11.3% during the 2nd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 4,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $296,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in General Mills by 44.2% in the second quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $902,000 after acquiring an additional 4,367 shares in the last quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 11.5% in the second quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 9,944 shares of the company’s stock valued at $629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,027 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the second quarter worth about $219,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 65,230 shares of company stock worth $4,547,822 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.56.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on GIS

General Mills Price Performance

GIS opened at $63.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.06 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $66.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $68.11. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.47 and a 52-week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GISGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research 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 paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

General Mills Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for General Mills (NYSE:GIS)

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