General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Purchased by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,917,145 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 49,630 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $122,256,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Natural Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $245,000. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. GC Wealth Management RIA LLC now owns 3,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 127,524 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,132,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the last quarter. Morton Community Bank boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Morton Community Bank now owns 39,784 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,537,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 33,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,119,000 after purchasing an additional 3,434 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GIS. Bank of America cut their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. TD Cowen cut their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.24.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $60.03 on Thursday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $33.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.05, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.83.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

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.