General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 488,698 shares of the company’s stock after selling 31,343 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.09% of General Mills worth $31,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in 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. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in General Mills by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,347,000 after acquiring an additional 263,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc grew its stake in General Mills by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,492,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $183,778,000 after acquiring an additional 92,931 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. 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 report on Wednesday. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 10th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.88.

General Mills Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $59.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.15 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.61. The company has a market capitalization of $32.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

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 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.