Canopy Partners LLC Buys 207 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Canopy Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,212 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 207 shares during the quarter. Canopy Partners LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $332,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at about $496,484,000. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 3,504.8% during the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,023,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,376,573,000 after buying an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.69.

General Mills Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $59.64 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.97 and a 200 day moving average of $64.11. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $32.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.15 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

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.