General Mills, Inc. $GIS Shares Sold by Patten Group Inc.

Patten Group Inc. decreased its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 26.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,726 shares of the company’s stock after selling 3,411 shares during the period. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in General Mills by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 19,597 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after acquiring an additional 2,127 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 49.1% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 66,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,954,000 after purchasing an additional 21,789 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,674 shares of the company’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 353,484 shares of the company’s stock worth $21,135,000 after purchasing an additional 4,464 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 88.5% in the first quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,689 shares of the company’s stock worth $639,000 after acquiring an additional 5,019 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Up 1.2%

GIS opened at $49.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of -0.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $49.61 and its 200-day moving average is $52.13. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.48 and a 52-week high of $69.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. Analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on GIS. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 19th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Bernstein Bank reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised shares of General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.82.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

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.