Mariner LLC Grows Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Mariner LLC lifted its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,018,222 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 41,917 shares during the period. Mariner LLC owned about 0.18% of General Mills worth $64,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in General Mills by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company's stock worth $4,376,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $923,907,000 after purchasing an additional 136,895 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in General Mills by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company's stock worth $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth $496,484,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in General Mills by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,989,111 shares of the company's stock valued at $381,926,000 after purchasing an additional 924,982 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS stock traded up $1.05 during trading on Friday, hitting $57.52. 3,368,814 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,405,556. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $59.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $62.95. The company has a market cap of $31.71 billion, a PE ratio of 12.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on GIS shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.69.

About General Mills

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.