Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. Sells 418 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc. decreased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 29.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 992 shares of the company’s stock after selling 418 shares during the period. Jackson Grant Investment Advisers Inc.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $63,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Mills by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,565,000 after purchasing an additional 43,086 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares during the period. J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new position in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $547,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in General Mills by 129.9% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,649,000 after acquiring an additional 104,436 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised 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 acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on General Mills from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.94.

General Mills Price Performance

GIS stock opened at $59.60 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.27. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.94 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The stock has a market cap of $32.85 billion, a PE ratio of 12.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.88 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.25 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.