KBC Group NV Acquires 9,455 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 409,464 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,455 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in General Mills were worth $26,111,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in General Mills by 105.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. 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 valued at $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. increased its stake in General Mills by 3,504.8% in the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,023,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6,114.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 450,451 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,266,000 after acquiring an additional 443,202 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.94.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS stock opened at $59.84 on Wednesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.94 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $63.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.44. The company has a market capitalization of $32.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.01, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

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.