Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases 29,476 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 103.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,047 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,476 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 9.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in General Mills by 105.2% in 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 during the period. Amundi grew its stake in General Mills by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,082,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,902,000 after acquiring an additional 360,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of General Mills by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,004,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,385,000 after acquiring an additional 207,346 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. TD Cowen lowered their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho dropped their price target on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a 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 report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.71.

General Mills Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $61.01 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $60.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.55. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.15 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $33.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills 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 completion of the sale, the insider now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This 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 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.