General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Bought by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 48.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,355 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,176 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position 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 valued at $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in General Mills by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 6,114.0% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 450,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,266,000 after buying an additional 443,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of General Mills by 6.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,151,000 after buying an additional 323,090 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GIS. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of 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. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.31.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS stock opened at $59.64 on Tuesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.94 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $63.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.55.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.