Heartland Bank & Trust Co Cuts Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co cut its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,981 shares of the company’s stock after selling 505 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in General Mills were worth $445,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after acquiring an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in General Mills by 105.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,151,000 after buying an additional 323,090 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in General Mills by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,347,000 after acquiring an additional 263,188 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $60.37 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.11. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.94 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $63.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.45.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.42 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on GIS. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.94.

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.