Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Sells 1,551 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lowered its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 13.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,316 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,551 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 434.8% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,138,473,000 after acquiring an additional 15,480,835 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 8.1% in the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,864,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $589,814,000 after purchasing an additional 741,432 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 4.8% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,588,624 shares of the company’s stock worth $443,173,000 after purchasing an additional 393,135 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 4.6% in the first 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 purchasing an additional 315,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 10.0% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,986,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,674,000 after purchasing an additional 634,393 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS opened at $48.48 on Friday. 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 market capitalization of $25.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.16, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of -0.03. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $49.65 and a 200 day moving average of $52.36. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.48 and a 12 month high of $70.60.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the business posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.12%.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total value of $200,160.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of several analyst reports. HSBC lowered their price objective 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. Mizuho lowered their price objective on General Mills from $57.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Barclays lowered their price objective on General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on General Mills from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $55.82.

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.