General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Stake Lowered by Lynch & Associates IN

Lynch & Associates IN lowered its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,089 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,060 shares during the quarter. Lynch & Associates IN’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,238,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in General Mills in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 61.5% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the third quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC grew its position in General Mills by 46.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 606 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS traded down $1.86 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $58.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,924,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,544,897. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.74. The company has a market capitalization of $32.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.39. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $58.27 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. General Mills’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen dropped their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped 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. Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total transaction of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 355,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total transaction of $576,156.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,055,870.64. This represents a 35.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,624 shares of company stock valued at $3,897,326. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Mills Company 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.