General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Holdings Raised by Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 83.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,299 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,217 shares during the quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $593,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at about $547,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,652,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of 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. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $59.23 on Thursday. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.15 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $60.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.42. The firm has a market cap of $32.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America lowered their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $67.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was 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 owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.