Empirical Finance LLC Reduces Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Empirical Finance LLC cut its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,881 shares of the company’s stock after selling 279 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in General Mills by 79.5% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 143,291 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,138,000 after purchasing an additional 63,456 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 9,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at about $432,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,504,000 after buying an additional 1,761 shares during the period. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its stake in General Mills by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 stock was sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total transaction of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was 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 owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade 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 corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the topic of several research reports. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $70.94.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $58.86 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $32.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.80, a P/E/G ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 0.10. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.14. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.94 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.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. General Mills’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.08%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

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.