Trust Co. of Vermont Decreases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Trust Co. of Vermont lowered its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 20,889 shares of the company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GIS. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 1.1% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 31,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,895,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.6% in the first quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company now owns 9,353 shares of the company’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.6% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,922,000 after buying an additional 3,011 shares during the period. Apella Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 14.5% in the first quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 9,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 1,176 shares during the period. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 39.2% in the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,000 after buying an additional 3,267 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 research analysts recently issued reports on GIS shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 15th. Mizuho reduced their price target on General Mills from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Barclays reduced their price target on General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Mills news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total transaction of $200,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 66,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Mills Stock Performance

General Mills stock opened at $50.73 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $53.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market cap of $27.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.59, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of -0.03. General Mills, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $48.29 and a fifty-two week high of $74.43.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 15.24%.The business’s revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. As a group, 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 Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.12%.

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.