General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Sold by West Family Investments Inc.

West Family Investments Inc. reduced its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 8.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,179 shares of the company’s stock after selling 720 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its stake in General Mills by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in General Mills during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Mills during the 3rd quarter worth $44,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 at this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective 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. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.06.

General Mills Stock Up 2.0 %

GIS stock opened at $62.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $34.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.15 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $60.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.06. 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 released 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 firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.