Schroder Investment Management Group Sells 16,996 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Schroder Investment Management Group cut its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 15.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 92,394 shares of the company’s stock after selling 16,996 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in General Mills were worth $5,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in General Mills by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,376,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868,508 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position 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 increased its position in shares of General Mills by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock valued at $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $496,484,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in General Mills by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,731,471 shares of the company’s stock worth $365,496,000 after buying an additional 670,642 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Trading Down 2.2 %

NYSE:GIS opened at $59.64 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.15 and a 52 week high of $75.90. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.97 and a 200 day moving average of $64.26.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.75%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on GIS. TD Cowen decreased 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped 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. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.69.

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.