Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 70.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,233 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 9,978 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $1,790,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. RFP Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 66.3% in the 1st quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 434 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. First Foundation Advisors boosted its holdings in General Mills by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 500 shares of the company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 47.5% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 559 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $76.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.00.

General Mills Trading Up 0.9 %

GIS traded up $0.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $65.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,006,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,361,745. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $71.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $36.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.60, a PEG ratio of 3.39 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.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares in the company, valued at $2,700,411.92. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total transaction of $576,156.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,055,870.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the sale, the insider now owns 36,184 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 66,555 shares of company stock worth $4,657,676. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

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.