Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 2,842 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 438,014 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 2,842 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 0.08% of General Mills worth $31,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 41.8% during the second quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 36,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,309,000 after acquiring an additional 10,765 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 22.1% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,565,000 after purchasing an additional 43,086 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 129.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after buying an additional 104,436 shares during the last quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 105.8% during the 3rd quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 144,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,697,000 after purchasing an additional 74,456 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 6.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,157,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,206,000 after buying an additional 69,902 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GIS. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.56.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares in the company, valued at $2,700,411.92. This trade represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,721,336 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Down 3.1 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $63.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.48 billion, a PE ratio of 15.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $66.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.17. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.47 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 57.14%.

General Mills Company 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 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.