Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Cuts Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board cut its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 20.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,066,757 shares of the company’s stock after selling 282,281 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in General Mills were worth $68,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GIS. RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in General Mills by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,668 shares of the company’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.8% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in General Mills by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Howard Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $250,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Finally, Byrne Asset Management LLC raised its position in General Mills by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GIS. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.69.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS stock opened at $57.52 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $59.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.50, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by 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.