HM Payson & Co. Boosts Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

HM Payson & Co. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,192 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 545 shares during the quarter. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,670,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $547,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 129.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after acquiring an additional 104,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.06.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS opened at $64.53 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.00. 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 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.57 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06.

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

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.