Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $1.41 Million Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,134 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,645 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings 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 during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 23,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,471,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Mills by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. One equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

General Mills Stock Down 1.5 %

GIS stock opened at $61.15 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company’s 50 day moving average is $60.41 and its 200 day moving average is $66.13. The stock has a market cap of $33.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.15 and a 1-year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. 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.