First Trust Advisors LP Increases Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 13.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,357,630 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 156,851 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.25% of General Mills worth $86,576,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Barclays PLC grew its position in General Mills by 1.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,634,280 shares of the company's stock worth $120,691,000 after buying an additional 19,290 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 108,475 shares of the company's stock worth $8,011,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $403,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in General Mills by 138.8% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 37,487 shares of the company's stock worth $2,768,000 after purchasing an additional 21,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Optimist Retirement Group LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 19.0% during the third quarter. Optimist Retirement Group LLC now owns 28,362 shares of the company's stock worth $2,095,000 after purchasing an additional 4,528 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on GIS shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.00.

General Mills Trading Down 0.4 %

GIS stock traded down $0.23 on Friday, hitting $56.16. 3,996,092 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,398,748. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The business's fifty day moving average is $59.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.51.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS 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 business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.75%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 sale 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 insiders.

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.