General Mills, Inc. $GIS Shares Sold by Stephens Inc. AR

Key Points

• Stephens Inc. AR reduced its holdings in General Mills, Inc. by 9.3%, selling 10,077 shares, and now owns a total of 98,787 shares, valued at approximately $5.1 million.
• Several research firms have recently downgraded their price targets for General Mills, with Mizuho lowering its target from $57.00 to $52.00, while UBS set a new price objective of $47.00.
• General Mills declared a quarterly dividend of $0.61 per share, translating to a 5.0% yield based on its current share price, with the dividend scheduled for payment on November 3rd.

Stephens Inc. AR lessened its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 9.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 98,787 shares of the company's stock after selling 10,077 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in General Mills were worth $5,118,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GIS. Garde Capital Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 101.5% in the 2nd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 524 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter worth $34,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter worth $34,000. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter worth $37,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on GIS. Mizuho dropped their price objective on General Mills from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 19th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on General Mills from $49.00 to $47.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Bernstein Bank cut their target price on 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. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of General Mills in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $55.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 19th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $48.59 on Wednesday. The company's fifty day moving average is $49.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.16. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.48 and a 12-month high of $69.24. The company has a market cap of $25.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of -0.03.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors 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 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. General Mills's payout ratio is presently 46.12%.

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.

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