Palisade Asset Management LLC Raises Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Palisade Asset Management LLC lifted its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 94,510 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 512 shares during the period. Palisade Asset Management LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $6,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in General Mills by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,151,000 after purchasing an additional 323,090 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,478,000 after purchasing an additional 148,235 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 100.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,138,000 after buying an additional 2,368,563 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in General Mills by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,347,000 after buying an additional 263,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc raised its position in General Mills by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,492,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,778,000 after buying an additional 92,931 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,700,411.92. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were 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 owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 67,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,721,336. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

General Mills Trading Up 1.4 %

GIS stock opened at $65.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.47 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.63. The company has a market capitalization of $36.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of 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 reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.67.

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.