West Tower Group LLC Makes New Investment in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

West Tower Group LLC bought a new position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $434,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced 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. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $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 Price Performance

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $60.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.08 and a 200 day moving average of $65.47. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $33.25 billion, a PE ratio of 13.11, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio 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.