General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Purchased by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP grew its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 13.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,357,630 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 156,851 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.25% of General Mills worth $86,576,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Forum Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 44.7% in the 4th quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 8,832 shares of the company's stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 2,729 shares during the period. GeoWealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 15.6% in the 4th quarter. GeoWealth Management LLC now owns 8,006 shares of the company's stock valued at $511,000 after buying an additional 1,080 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 714,093 shares of the company's stock valued at $45,502,000 after buying an additional 104,366 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1,096.0% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL now owns 598 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Square LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 7,267 shares of the company's stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

General Mills Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of GIS stock traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.16. 3,996,092 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,405,789. The firm has a market cap of $30.96 billion, a PE ratio of 12.21, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $59.32 and a 200 day moving average of $62.27.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. General Mills's revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on General Mills in a report on Wednesday. They set a "sell" rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.00.

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.