General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Bought by Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,764 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GIS. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 589,423 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,287,000 after purchasing an additional 35,680 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 7.2% during the second quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 11,224 shares of the company’s stock valued at $710,000 after buying an additional 758 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in General Mills by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 49,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,110,000 after acquiring an additional 5,025 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in General Mills by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,560,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,210,000 after acquiring an additional 76,074 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in General Mills by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,478,000 after acquiring an additional 148,235 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays decreased 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.31.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $58.82 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.42 billion, a PE ratio of 14.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $58.27 and a one year high of $75.90. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $64.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.64.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

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.