General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Bought by Duality Advisers LP

Duality Advisers LP raised its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 44.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,021 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,710 shares during the quarter. Duality Advisers LP’s holdings in General Mills were worth $783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,242,274 shares of the company’s stock worth $527,423,000 after acquiring an additional 23,400 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 5.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,995,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $511,608,000 after acquiring an additional 379,702 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,527,989 shares of the company’s stock worth $468,346,000 after acquiring an additional 44,933 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 48.7% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,051,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,728,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 2.4% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,102,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,519,000 after acquiring an additional 96,935 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on GIS shares. Barclays upped their target price on General Mills from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. HSBC upped their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Citigroup began coverage on General Mills in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on General Mills from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $77.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, 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 transaction of $692,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 93,381 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,462,899.01. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 17,726 shares of company stock valued at $1,187,811 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $71.61 on Thursday. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.33 and a fifty-two week high of $90.89. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $67.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $40.67 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.15.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 9th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.13%.

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