HTLF Bank Takes $329,000 Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

HTLF Bank acquired a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. FWL Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Operose Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 214.1% during the 3rd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 402 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in General Mills during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. HSBC increased their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays increased their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.18.

General Mills Stock Up 1.9 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $70.41 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.15. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $60.33 and a one year high of $90.89.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.12. General Mills had a net margin of 12.66% and a return on equity of 26.84%. The company had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 9th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 54.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.44, for a total value of $3,870,008.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 318,483 shares in the company, valued at $20,523,044.52. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 60,056 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.44, for a total transaction of $3,870,008.64. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 318,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,523,044.52. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.21, for a total value of $692,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 93,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,462,899.01. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,782 shares of company stock worth $5,057,820 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.