JPMorgan Chase & Co. Buys 2,926,232 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $421,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 792,993 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,563,000 after buying an additional 27,847 shares in the last quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 14,907 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,267 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 28.6% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 45,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,323,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 0.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 438,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,025,000 after purchasing an additional 2,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in General Mills by 72.6% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 517,820 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,241,000 after purchasing an additional 217,774 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Mills Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $63.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $35.25 billion, a PE ratio of 15.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.47 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $65.77 and a 200-day moving average of $67.99.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,624 shares of company stock worth $3,897,326 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.56.

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.