Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Decreases Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT cut its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,963 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,231 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 22.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,565,000 after acquiring an additional 43,086 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth about $547,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 129.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,649,000 after purchasing an additional 104,436 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Up 3.1 %

General Mills stock opened at $61.02 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $60.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.56. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a PEG ratio of 3.76 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS 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 company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders 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 3.93%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped 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 research note on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.88.

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.