First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. Lowers Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lessened its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,454 shares of the company’s stock after selling 412 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $348,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its position in General Mills by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Juncture Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 6,043 shares of the company’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,430 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at $278,000. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 98,668 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,292,000 after purchasing an additional 7,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its position in General Mills by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 71,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,569,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

General Mills Trading Up 2.1 %

GIS opened at $61.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $33.97 billion, a PE ratio of 13.40, a PEG ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11. The business has a 50 day moving average of $63.31 and a 200-day moving average of $67.45. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.94 and a 52 week high of $75.90. 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 (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GIS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.94.

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 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.