Kentucky Retirement Systems Has $2.44 Million Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Kentucky Retirement Systems reduced its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 38,250 shares of the company’s stock after selling 527 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in General Mills were worth $2,439,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position 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 valued at $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 3,504.8% in the 4th quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,023,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 6,114.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 450,451 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,266,000 after purchasing an additional 443,202 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.88.

General Mills Stock Up 3.1 %

General Mills stock opened at $61.02 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1-year low of $55.15 and a 1-year high of $75.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $60.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.55. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.93%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.