Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Reduces Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lessened its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. 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.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 61.5% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on GIS. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.06.

General Mills Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $61.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.10. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.13. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.15 and a 52-week 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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.92%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

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.