Great Diamond Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Great Diamond Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,348 shares of the company’s stock after selling 178 shares during the quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $214,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in General Mills by 22.1% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,565,000 after buying an additional 43,086 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the period. J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $547,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 129.9% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after purchasing an additional 104,436 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $60.11 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.32. 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 firm has a market cap of $33.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.94 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now 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 company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. 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. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, TD Cowen cut their price target on 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 assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.94.

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.