Ieq Capital LLC Increases Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Ieq Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 33,940 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,641 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 6,114.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 450,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,266,000 after acquiring an additional 443,202 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 420.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 222,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,426,000 after purchasing an additional 179,703 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 20.5% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,289 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,517,000 after purchasing an additional 8,053 shares during the period. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in General Mills by 41.1% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 153,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,336,000 after buying an additional 44,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly 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 link. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.88.

General Mills Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $61.02 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $60.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.53. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

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.