General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Sold by Courier Capital LLC

Courier Capital LLC lowered its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,607 shares of the company’s stock after selling 425 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in General Mills by 0.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,242,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,423,000 after buying an additional 23,400 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in General Mills by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock worth $460,858,000 after purchasing an additional 501,717 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth about $377,205,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in General Mills by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,003,306 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,909,000 after purchasing an additional 235,938 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in General Mills by 106.9% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,442,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $224,254,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778,345 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Down 0.7 %

GIS traded down $0.46 on Thursday, reaching $63.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,436,931 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,153,037. The company has a market capitalization of $36.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.12. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $60.33 and a fifty-two week high of $78.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $68.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.79. 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 (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.85 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 26.84% and a net margin of 12.66%. The company’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This is an increase from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.13%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of General Mills from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.72.

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