Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 7,764 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 696,591 shares of the company’s stock after selling 7,764 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.13% of General Mills worth $44,422,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Mizuho reduced their price target on General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on General Mills in a report on Monday, March 24th. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price objective for the company. One research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.69.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $59.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $32.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $59.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.19.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. On average, analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company 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.