Sapient Capital LLC Sells 499 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Sapient Capital LLC reduced its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,271 shares of the company’s stock after selling 499 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $272,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 9,143.2% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 13,680 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 13,532 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $239,000. NBC Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 21,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,557,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.1% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 543,580 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,143,000 after buying an additional 26,453 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 3.1% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 12,365 shares of the company’s stock valued at $913,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on GIS. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report 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 for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays reduced 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 research report on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.13.

General Mills Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE GIS opened at $58.46 on Thursday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.85 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $61.99 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.05. The stock has a market cap of $32.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced 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 company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. General Mills’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. This trade represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $67,144.50. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.