Empirical Finance LLC Has $1.49 Million Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,160 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GIS. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 4.1% in the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,845 shares of the company’s stock valued at $829,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,219,113,000 after buying an additional 8,444,312 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association increased its position in General Mills by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 46,420 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,248,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 8.6% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,448,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,362,000 after buying an additional 114,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connors Investor Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 8.5% in the first quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. now owns 4,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $77.00 to $70.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America boosted their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, August 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $72.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 9,647 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.39, for a total transaction of $717,640.33. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 128,664 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,571,314.96. This represents a 6.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 20th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,700,411.92. This represents a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 66,555 shares of company stock valued at $4,657,676. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Stock Down 2.3 %

GIS opened at $63.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $35.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.05, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.85. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.47 and a twelve month high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 10th were given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

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.