Hsbc Holdings PLC Increases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,921,255 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 115,221 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $122,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GIS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth about $496,484,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in General Mills by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares during the period. Nepsis Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 3,504.8% during the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,023,000 after buying an additional 2,104,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in General Mills by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,376,573,000 after buying an additional 1,868,508 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $58.08 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $32.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.66.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.13%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley assumed coverage on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 target price for the company. One 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, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.