Hills Bank & Trust Co Cuts Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Hills Bank & Trust Co lowered its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,115 shares of the company’s stock after selling 225 shares during the period. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in General Mills were worth $262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter valued at $225,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter valued at $243,000. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 9.0% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,186 shares of the company’s stock valued at $752,000 after buying an additional 838 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in General Mills by 5.9% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 96,370 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,117,000 after purchasing an additional 5,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 2.0% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 20,160 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,489,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective 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. Mizuho dropped their price objective 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. Citigroup dropped their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.71.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % 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, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, 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 company insiders.

General Mills Trading Down 0.5 %

General Mills stock opened at $59.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.15 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $32.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $60.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during 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%. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.