Columbia Asset Management Cuts Stake in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Columbia Asset Management has drastically reduced its stake in General Mills by 98.3%, selling 975,615 shares and leaving them with just 16,630 shares valued at approximately $862,000.
• General Mills is currently rated a "hold" by analysts, with a consensus price target of $55.82 following various upgrades and downgrades from several brokerages.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, with a yield of 4.8%, reflecting its commitment to returning value to shareholders.

Columbia Asset Management reduced its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 98.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,630 shares of the company's stock after selling 975,615 shares during the period. Columbia Asset Management's holdings in General Mills were worth $862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in General Mills during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $222,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 522,576 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,245,000 after purchasing an additional 35,494 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 452,844 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,076,000 after purchasing an additional 32,628 shares during the last quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $3,610,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd increased its position in shares of General Mills by 126.1% in the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 774,134 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,285,000 after purchasing an additional 431,693 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total transaction of $200,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. This trade represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on GIS. Zacks Research raised shares of General Mills from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays dropped their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of General Mills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $55.82.

General Mills Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $50.42 on Wednesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.29 and a 1 year high of $74.85. 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 company has a market capitalization of $26.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of -0.02. The company's fifty day moving average is $49.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.21.

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

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.

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