34,721 Shares in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Acquired by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 34,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,214,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at about $259,000. Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Kiker Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $473,000. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 920.7% in the 4th quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 54,537 shares of the company's stock worth $3,478,000 after buying an additional 49,194 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in General Mills by 54.2% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 92,654 shares of the company's stock worth $5,909,000 after buying an additional 32,555 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on GIS. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.69.

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General Mills Price Performance

NYSE GIS traded down $0.33 on Tuesday, hitting $57.84. The company had a trading volume of 2,821,037 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,114,724. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company's fifty day moving average price is $59.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.06. The company has a market capitalization of $31.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.15 and a 12-month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.15%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.75%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate 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.