Weaver Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Weaver Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 13,392 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,353 shares during the quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $854,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in General Mills by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays cut their target price on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen cut their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued 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 issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.94.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $58.98 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $62.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.30. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.94 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $32.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

About General Mills

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.