General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Acquired by Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC boosted its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,750 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,140 shares during the quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in General Mills by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,004,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,385,000 after buying an additional 207,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in General Mills by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,347,000 after buying an additional 263,188 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America dropped 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 report on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were 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 directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $64.53 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.15 and a 52 week high of $75.90. 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 market cap of $35.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $60.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.00.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.