Motco Lowers Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Motco reduced its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 51,325 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,170 shares during the quarter. Motco’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,273,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in General Mills by 64.5% in 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 3,504.8% in the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,023,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104,353 shares during the period. Finally, DDD Partners LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $21,776,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills 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 transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

General Mills Trading Up 1.2 %

General Mills stock opened at $59.99 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $60.55 and its 200-day moving average is $66.33. 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 company has a market cap of $33.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.04, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.00%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.06.

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.