Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Sells 990 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 17,260 shares of the company’s stock after selling 990 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,101,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in General Mills during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in General Mills by 61.5% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Mills during the third quarter worth approximately $44,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup dropped their target price on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.13.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $58.06 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.85 and a 52 week 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 50 day moving average of $62.31 and a 200 day moving average of $67.15.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by 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.