Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Trims Holdings in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Key Points

• Empirical Financial Services LLC reduced its holdings in General Mills, Inc. by 27.3%, selling 5,106 shares to maintain a total of 13,582 shares valued at approximately $704,000.
• Several equity analysts have recently downgraded General Mills' stock rating and price targets, with Bernstein reducing its price objective from $55 to $54 while Goldman Sachs lowered theirs from $68 to $58.
• General Mills announced a quarterly dividend of $0.61, scheduled for payment on November 3rd, representing an annualized yield of 4.8% with a payout ratio of 46.12%.

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management reduced its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 27.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,582 shares of the company's stock after selling 5,106 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management's holdings in General Mills were worth $704,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Perpetual Ltd grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 3.5% during the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 5,411 shares of the company's stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 4,212 shares of the company's stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Mills by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 52,298 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,127,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.8% in the first quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 24,817 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,484,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 1.5% during the first quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 13,452 shares of the company's stock worth $804,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total transaction of $200,160.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,332,313.72. This trade represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Bernstein Bank dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of General Mills from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of General Mills from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on General Mills from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, HSBC cut their target price on General Mills from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Mills has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $55.82.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $50.38 on Monday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.29 and a 12-month high of $73.78. The stock has a market cap of $26.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.52, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of -0.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The company has a 50-day moving average of $49.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.97.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 15.24%.General Mills's revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.07 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.8%. General Mills's 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.

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