MMA Asset Management LLC Cuts Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

MMA Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 43.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,632 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,117 shares during the period. MMA Asset Management LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings 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 worth $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings 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 worth $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,004,777 shares of the company’s stock worth $255,385,000 after purchasing an additional 207,346 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,347,000 after purchasing an additional 263,188 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GIS. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company 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 for the company in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.06.

General Mills Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE GIS opened at $60.62 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.26. The firm has a market cap of $33.42 billion, a PE ratio of 13.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.10. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

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 issued 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 3.96%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.

General Mills 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.