Morton Community Bank Buys 875 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Morton Community Bank raised its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 39,784 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 875 shares during the quarter. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,537,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GIS. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 792,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,563,000 after buying an additional 27,847 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 8.7% in the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 6,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 540 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the third quarter valued at about $286,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 70.0% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 24,233 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,790,000 after buying an additional 9,978 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.8% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 563,390 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,606,000 after buying an additional 9,722 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Up 3.7 %

General Mills stock opened at $64.53 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.57 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $60.33 and a 200-day moving average of $65.97.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GIS. TD Cowen cut their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.