Mizuho Securities USA LLC Buys 16,522 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 45.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 52,616 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,522 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $547,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 72,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,652,000 after acquiring an additional 4,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 15.7% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 43,114 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,749,000 after acquiring an additional 5,853 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

General Mills Stock Up 0.8 %

GIS opened at $58.78 on Monday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $32.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.78, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.00 and a 200 day moving average of $65.17.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

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 $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.53.

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.