Van ECK Associates Corp Has $7.08 Million Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 9.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 103,174 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 9,119 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in General Mills were worth $7,076,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company's stock worth $4,219,113,000 after buying an additional 8,444,312 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 22.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company's stock valued at $955,118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,488,341 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 100.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company's stock worth $299,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,563 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in General Mills by 6,140.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company's stock valued at $59,807,000 after buying an additional 930,271 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the first quarter worth about $36,177,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $73.00.

General Mills Stock Up 1.0 %

GIS stock traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $65.61. 1,369,529 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,879,903. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.15. The company has a market capitalization of $36.42 billion, a PE ratio of 15.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.50 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.47 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.80 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. General Mills's revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.09 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. General Mills's payout ratio is presently 57.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $717,640.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 128,664 shares in the company, valued at $9,571,314.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,657,676 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

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.