Nordea Investment Management AB Increases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 4.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,588,624 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 393,135 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in General Mills were worth $443,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Garde Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 101.5% in the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the first quarter worth approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 66,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GIS. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $45.00 price target (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.82.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS stock opened at $47.70 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $47.48 and a one year high of $71.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $49.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company has a market capitalization of $25.44 billion, a PE ratio of 9.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of -0.03.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 46.12%.

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.