Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Decreases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management decreased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,783 shares of the company’s stock after selling 471 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in General Mills were worth $377,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,242,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,423,000 after acquiring an additional 23,400 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of General Mills by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,995,118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $511,608,000 after purchasing an additional 379,702 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in General Mills by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,527,989 shares of the company’s stock valued at $468,346,000 after buying an additional 44,933 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in General Mills by 48.7% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,051,607 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,728,000 after buying an additional 1,654,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in General Mills by 2.4% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,102,503 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,519,000 after buying an additional 96,935 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $69.53 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $68.36 and a 200 day moving average of $65.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $60.33 and a 52 week high of $90.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.95, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.15.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 20th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $5.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.97 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.84% and a net margin of 12.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, insider Jonathon Nudi sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.21, for a total transaction of $692,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 93,381 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,462,899.01. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America increased their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $72.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.18.

About General Mills

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.