Sanctuary Advisors LLC Purchases 3,991 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,813 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 3,991 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,810,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of General Mills by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,347,000 after buying an additional 263,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc increased its position in shares of General Mills by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,492,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,778,000 after buying an additional 92,931 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $61.02 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.15 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $33.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. General Mills’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. TD Cowen lowered 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. Bank of America lowered their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho lowered their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.88.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.