Swiss National Bank Lowers Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,568,300 shares of the company’s stock after selling 88,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in General Mills were worth $100,010,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new stake in General Mills in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in General Mills by 61.5% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Bank of America decreased their price target on General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup decreased their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Barclays decreased their price target on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.71.

General Mills Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of GIS opened at $59.53 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $60.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $32.82 billion, a PE ratio of 12.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.15 and a fifty-two week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. General Mills’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.