Jeffrey L. Harmening Sells 11,379 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Stock

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $65.15 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $35.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $60.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.93. General Mills, Inc. has a one year low of $55.15 and a one year high of $75.90.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $999,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 23,061 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,471,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC increased its position in General Mills by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GIS has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.65.

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.