Merit Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 48.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,355 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 10,176 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $2,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in General Mills by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company's stock worth $17,565,000 after purchasing an additional 43,086 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company's stock valued at $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 129.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,649,000 after acquiring an additional 104,436 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company's stock worth $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 105.8% in the third quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 144,851 shares of the company's stock worth $10,697,000 after purchasing an additional 74,456 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GIS shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS stock traded up $0.45 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $60.08. The stock had a trading volume of 3,097,552 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,554,899. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $63.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.12 billion, a PE ratio of 13.06, a PEG ratio of 3.72 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.94 and a 12 month 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.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

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.