General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Holdings Boosted by Exeter Financial LLC

Exeter Financial LLC grew its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 33,082 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,716 shares during the period. Exeter Financial LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,565,000 after acquiring an additional 43,086 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 129.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,649,000 after purchasing an additional 104,436 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its stake in General Mills by 105.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 144,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,697,000 after buying an additional 74,456 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,541 shares of company stock worth $3,321,170 in the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Barclays reduced their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.31.

General Mills Stock Up 1.5 %

GIS stock opened at $59.38 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $64.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.67. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $58.27 and a 52-week 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.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. 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.