Van ECK Associates Corp Acquires 34,044 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 33.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 137,218 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 34,044 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in General Mills were worth $8,750,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in General Mills by 105.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company's stock valued at $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in General Mills by 9.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 3,504.8% during the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company's stock valued at $138,023,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 6,114.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 450,451 shares of the company's stock valued at $33,266,000 after purchasing an additional 443,202 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America reduced their price target on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $69.88.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS traded up $1.16 on Thursday, hitting $59.15. 2,953,020 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,652,118. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.15 and a 52 week 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.61 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $61.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.66.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is 52.17%.

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.