J2 Capital Management Inc Makes New Investment in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 8,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $547,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 35,680 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.5% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 131,257 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,303,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 12.8% in the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 28,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,815,000 after purchasing an additional 3,257 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 2.3% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 56,101 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,549,000 after buying an additional 1,258 shares during the period. Finally, Bridges Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 31.1% during the second quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. now owns 9,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $601,000 after buying an additional 2,252 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays dropped their price objective on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.31.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $59.64 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.94 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

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

General Mills Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills 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 transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

General Mills 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.