Wedbush Securities Inc. Buys 1,374 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,495 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,374 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % 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. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.69.

General Mills Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE GIS opened at $58.61 on Tuesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.31 billion, a PE ratio of 12.74, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The business’s 50-day moving average is $59.91 and its 200 day moving average is $64.00.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 52.75%.

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.