General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Sold by Welch Group LLC

Welch Group LLC lowered its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 684,988 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,730 shares during the quarter. General Mills comprises 2.0% of Welch Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $43,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp increased 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 purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the third quarter worth $44,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was 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 directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup cut 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.94.

General Mills Stock Down 0.4 %

General Mills stock opened at $59.91 on Tuesday. 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 has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.34. The company has a market cap of $33.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.94 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 (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date 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.