Westpac Banking Corp Grows Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Westpac Banking Corp grew its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 70,330 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,319 shares during the period. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in General Mills were worth $4,485,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup reduced their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, March 24th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE GIS opened at $59.21 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.39. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $32.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS 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. Investors 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 dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

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.