Leelyn Smith LLC Acquires 956 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Leelyn Smith LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 35,579 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 956 shares during the quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,269,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC raised its holdings in General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $547,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,652,000 after purchasing an additional 4,839 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

General Mills stock opened at $61.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.15 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $33.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.55.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.