Townsquare Capital LLC Boosts Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 24.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,937 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,919 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $4,779,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth $496,484,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in General Mills by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 105.2% in the third 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 period. Nepsis Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 3,504.8% during the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,023,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,376,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868,508 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 can be accessed through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Trading Up 1.3 %

General Mills stock opened at $57.92 on Monday. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $55.15 and a one year high of $75.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is $59.61 and its 200 day moving average is $63.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.93 billion, a PE ratio of 12.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.75%.

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.