Stephens Inc. AR Trims Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 32.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 185,612 shares of the company’s stock after selling 90,464 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in General Mills were worth $11,836,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.94.

General Mills Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $58.86 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $32.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a PEG ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.94 and a 1 year 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. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.14.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.17%.

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.