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

Sapient Capital LLC reduced its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,271 shares of the company’s stock after selling 499 shares during the quarter. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $272,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after buying an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 7.4% during 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. Finally, abrdn plc increased its holdings in General Mills by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,492,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,778,000 after acquiring an additional 92,931 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Bank of America upgraded shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. TD Cowen cut their price target 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 reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,465,007.58. This represents a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE GIS opened at $58.46 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $61.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.05. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $57.85 and a one year high of $75.90. 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 $32.22 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 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 net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.25 earnings per share. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

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.