Vestcor Inc Sells 3,280 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Vestcor Inc cut its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 167,813 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,280 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in General Mills were worth $10,701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GIS. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the third quarter valued at approximately $286,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its stake in General Mills by 23.5% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 9,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $684,000 after purchasing an additional 1,762 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 0.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,594,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $117,745,000 after purchasing an additional 8,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 11.6% in the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 3,595 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $60.03 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.15 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The business’s fifty day moving average is $60.26 and its 200 day moving average is $65.83.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The business 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 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.00%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on GIS shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Mizuho dropped their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Bank of America dropped their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.24.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is 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.