Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 5,498 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 426,372 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,498 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $31,488,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 16.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,219,113,000 after buying an additional 8,444,312 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in General Mills by 22.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,118,000 after purchasing an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 100.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock worth $299,138,000 after purchasing an additional 2,368,563 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6,140.4% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,807,000 after purchasing an additional 930,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,177,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Down 1.6 %

GIS stock opened at $68.78 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $72.37 and a 200-day moving average of $69.20. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.47 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90. The company has a market capitalization of $38.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.96, a PEG ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.66.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.80 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 55.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,700,411.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other General Mills news, CAO Mark A. Pallot sold 8,083 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.28, for a total value of $576,156.24. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,813 shares in the company, valued at $1,055,870.64. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Pankaj Mn Sharma sold 2,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total transaction of $173,514.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,700,411.92. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,055 shares of company stock valued at $1,467,311 in the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on GIS. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.00.

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.