Crescent Sterling Ltd. Cuts Position in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Crescent Sterling Ltd. decreased its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 25.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,107 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,101 shares during the quarter. Crescent Sterling Ltd.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $472,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 434.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,138,473,000 after buying an additional 15,480,835 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the first quarter valued at approximately $279,570,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4,775.2% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,443,981 shares of the company’s stock valued at $205,916,000 after buying an additional 3,373,338 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the first quarter valued at approximately $92,717,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 178.1% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,520,449 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,908,000 after buying an additional 973,798 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Down 0.9%

GIS opened at $46.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.21 and a 1-year high of $68.89. The company has a market capitalization of $24.88 billion, a PE ratio of 8.82, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of -0.03. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $51.59.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.52 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.2%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. This trade represents a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on GIS. Bernstein Bank cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of General Mills from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.82.

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.