Stifel Financial Corp Grows Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 9.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 835,567 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 70,984 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp owned approximately 0.15% of General Mills worth $53,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Transce3nd LLC purchased a new position in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related 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 value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, March 17th. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays dropped their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Mizuho lowered their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.69.

General Mills Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $58.08 on Wednesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.15 and a 52-week 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.66. The company has a market capitalization of $32.02 billion, a PE ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth 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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.75%.

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.

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