Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Cuts Stake in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC reduced its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 38,549 shares of the company’s stock after selling 756 shares during the quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,997,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 434.8% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,138,473,000 after buying an additional 15,480,835 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,864,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $589,814,000 after buying an additional 741,432 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 7,161,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,213,000 after buying an additional 315,375 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,986,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,674,000 after buying an additional 634,393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,403,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $382,888,000 after buying an additional 414,768 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of General Mills stock 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 company has a market cap of $26.87 billion, a price-to-earnings 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’s 50-day moving average price is $49.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.97.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 46.12%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. HSBC dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 18th. 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 report on Thursday, June 26th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, General Mills has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.82.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

General Mills 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.