Kentucky Trust Co Acquires New Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Kentucky Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 10,852 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $692,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 22.1% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,565,000 after buying an additional 43,086 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in General Mills by 105.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares during the period. J2 Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $547,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 129.9% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after buying an additional 104,436 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. TD Cowen cut their price target 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, Citigroup cut their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.13.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $59.37 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $62.13 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.09. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.85 and a 1-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.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.