Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Makes New Investment in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL purchased a new position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 10,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $772,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 16.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,219,113,000 after acquiring an additional 8,444,312 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in General Mills by 22.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock valued at $955,118,000 after buying an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in General Mills by 6.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,151,000 after buying an additional 323,090 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in General Mills by 2.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,478,000 after buying an additional 148,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 100.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,138,000 after buying an additional 2,368,563 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $717,640.33. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 128,664 shares in the company, valued at $9,571,314.96. This trade represents a 6.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 36,184 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,555 shares of company stock worth $4,657,676. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Down 2.3 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $63.21 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $70.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.84. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.47 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $35.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.80 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.09 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, August 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.67.

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.