Vestcor Inc Lowers Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Vestcor Inc cut its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 167,813 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,280 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in General Mills were worth $10,701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GIS. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the third quarter worth about $286,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the third quarter worth about $51,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its holdings in General Mills by 23.5% in the third quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 9,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $684,000 after buying an additional 1,762 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 0.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,594,383 shares of the company’s stock worth $117,745,000 after buying an additional 8,345 shares during the period. Finally, Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 11.6% in the third quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 3,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 373 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % 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 Trading Down 3.7 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $60.03 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a market cap of $33.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.83.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on GIS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.24.

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.