New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $1.69 Million Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board trimmed its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,512 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in General Mills by 9.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake 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 worth $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 7.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,347,000 after acquiring an additional 263,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.9% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,492,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,778,000 after acquiring an additional 92,931 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on GIS. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup dropped their target price 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. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.13.

General Mills Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $58.85 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.85 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $61.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.87.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.