General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Stock Holdings Lessened by Kennedy Investment Group

Kennedy Investment Group lessened its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 34,576 shares of the company’s stock after selling 357 shares during the quarter. General Mills comprises about 1.0% of Kennedy Investment Group’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Kennedy Investment Group’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $999,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $425,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $783,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GIS. TD Cowen reduced their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.94.

General Mills Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $59.84 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $32.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $63.29 and its 200-day moving average is $67.44. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.94 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.