General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Sold by Farmers Trust Co.

Farmers Trust Co. trimmed its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,079 shares of the company’s stock after selling 713 shares during the quarter. Farmers Trust Co.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 1.1% in the third 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 increased its position in General Mills by 1.1% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in General Mills by 0.8% in the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 21,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 1.7% in the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $783,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.31.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS stock traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $60.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,423,754 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,652,797. The company has a quick ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $59.70 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $33.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.47, a PEG ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.11. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.84.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.85% and a net margin of 12.14%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,379,054.08. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 56,624 shares of company stock valued at $3,897,326. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.