BlueStem Wealth Partners LLC Purchases New Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

BlueStem Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in General Mills by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in General Mills by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,004,777 shares of the company’s stock valued at $255,385,000 after buying an additional 207,346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in General Mills by 7.4% during the third 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. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Trading Up 1.1 %

General Mills stock opened at $60.62 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $55.15 and a 12-month high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.42 billion, a PE ratio of 13.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.10. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.26.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.25 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on GIS. Bank of America decreased their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is 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.