Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Lowers Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lowered its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 44,282 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,340 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,824,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in General Mills by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,376,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th 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. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $496,484,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in General Mills by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,731,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,496,000 after buying an additional 670,642 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America lowered their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 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 report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho reduced their target price on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.69.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS stock opened at $59.09 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.75%.

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.