DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 54,308 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lowered its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 5.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 913,326 shares of the company’s stock after selling 54,308 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned 0.17% of General Mills worth $46,183,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Garde Capital Inc. increased its holdings in General Mills by 101.5% during the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the company’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 completion of 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $48.59 on Wednesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $47.48 and a 52 week high of $69.24. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.16. The firm has a market cap of $25.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of -0.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share 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 net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.12%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GIS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on General Mills from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Bernstein Bank reduced their target price on General Mills from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $45.00 price target (down previously from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of General Mills from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $63.00 in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.