Natixis Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 14.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 148,861 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 18,651 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $9,493,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in General Mills by 105.2% during 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 during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $547,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,652,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake 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 worth $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America lowered their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.76.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Mills Stock Down 1.5 %

GIS stock opened at $58.31 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.15 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $59.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $32.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

General Mills Company 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.