Terra Alpha Investments LLC Takes $1.49 Million Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Terra Alpha Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 23,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,491,000. General Mills accounts for about 1.5% of Terra Alpha Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake 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 worth $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in General Mills by 105.2% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in General Mills by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,082,376 shares of the company’s stock valued at $248,902,000 after acquiring an additional 360,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,004,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,385,000 after purchasing an additional 207,346 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of General Mills 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The shares were 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 directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GIS. Barclays decreased their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America dropped their price objective 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, Citigroup lowered their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.71.

General Mills Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $59.53 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $60.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.82 billion, a PE ratio of 12.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. 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, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.15 and a 1-year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given 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 dividend yield of 4.03%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

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.