General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Stake Lowered by Focus Financial Network Inc.

Focus Financial Network Inc. trimmed its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 65.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,765 shares of the company’s stock after selling 24,129 shares during the period. Focus Financial Network Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $814,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in General Mills by 9,143.2% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,010,000 after acquiring an additional 13,532 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills in the third quarter worth about $239,000. NBC Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 21,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,557,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 543,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,143,000 after acquiring an additional 26,453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 12,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $913,000 after acquiring an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.13.

General Mills Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of GIS stock opened at $58.46 on Thursday. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $57.85 and a one year high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $61.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.05. The stock has a market cap of $32.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. Analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. General Mills’s payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

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.