Lynch & Associates IN Cuts Stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Lynch & Associates IN decreased its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 35,089 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,060 shares during the quarter. Lynch & Associates IN’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,238,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in General Mills by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $421,552,000 after purchasing an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 9.4% during the third 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. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in General Mills by 100.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,728,710 shares of the company’s stock valued at $299,138,000 after buying an additional 2,368,563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in General Mills by 6,140.4% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 945,421 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,807,000 after buying an additional 930,271 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 56,624 shares of company stock valued at $3,897,326 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GIS. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays lowered their price objective on General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Citigroup reduced their target price on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.31.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GIS traded down $1.86 during trading on Friday, reaching $58.51. The company had a trading volume of 5,924,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,544,897. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.25 billion, a PE ratio of 13.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.11. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $58.27 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $64.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.74.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.25 EPS. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.17%.

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.