State Street Corp Buys 2,867,678 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

State Street Corp lifted its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned 0.06% of General Mills worth $2,474,177,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 4.9% in the second quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 3,261 shares of the company’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Secure Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.0% in the second quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 3,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. LCM Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.9% in the second quarter. LCM Capital Management Inc now owns 8,521 shares of the company’s stock valued at $539,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.1% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $65.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $36.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.47 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The business 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.09 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total value of $717,640.33. Following the sale, the insider now owns 128,664 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,571,314.96. The trade was a 6.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,555 shares of company stock worth $4,721,336 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup upped their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America upped their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.67.

About General Mills

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.