Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,488,451 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 136,895 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.63% of General Mills worth $923,907,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GIS. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. TD Cowen cut their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.69.

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General Mills Price Performance

GIS traded down $0.86 on Monday, hitting $58.75. 2,889,759 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,345,955. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $59.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $64.11. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $55.15 and a one year high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $32.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company'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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.