Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Reduces Position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 257,884 shares of the company’s stock after selling 534 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $16,445,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Citigroup cut their price target on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.53.

General Mills Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of GIS opened at $58.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. General Mills, Inc. has a 1 year low of $55.15 and a 1 year high of $75.90. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.75%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.26% 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.