Appleton Partners Inc. MA Decreases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Appleton Partners Inc. MA trimmed its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 29.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,246 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,620 shares during the period. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in General Mills were worth $324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Garde Capital Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Mills by 101.5% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in General Mills during the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on General Mills from $65.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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 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 sale, the insider owned 66,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available through this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Down 0.4%

General Mills stock opened at $50.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $49.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.91. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $48.29 and a 1 year high of $73.74. The stock has a market cap of $26.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.49, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of -0.03.

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, beating 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 company had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. General Mills’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.