General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Bought by Mizuho Securities USA LLC

Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 67.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 72,880 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 29,350 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $5,382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in General Mills in the third quarter valued at $27,000. First Foundation Advisors boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 400.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its stake in General Mills by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in General Mills during the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 47.5% in the first quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were 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 owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,700,411.92. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,555 shares of company stock worth $4,657,676 over the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $63.21 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $70.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.84. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.47 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $35.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.05, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The business had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GIS shares. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup increased their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $72.67.

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.