General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Bought by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 18.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 350,438 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 55,268 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned approximately 0.06% of General Mills worth $22,347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of General Mills by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the period. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Mizuho cut their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.88.

General Mills Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $59.15 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.15 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $32.61 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $61.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.61.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced 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. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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.