Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. Has $1.57 Million Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. increased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,587 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,488,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $923,907,000 after buying an additional 136,895 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% during 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $496,484,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,731,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,496,000 after acquiring an additional 670,642 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $59.64 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.15 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current 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 issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.69.

About General Mills

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.