Klingman & Associates LLC Sells 251 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Klingman & Associates LLC cut its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,104 shares of the company’s stock after selling 251 shares during the quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 4,765 shares of the company’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its stake in General Mills by 22.1% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 237,850 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,565,000 after acquiring an additional 43,086 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 105.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company’s stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. J2 Capital Management Inc bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $547,000. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 129.9% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 184,823 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,649,000 after buying an additional 104,436 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GIS. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $74.00 to $68.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.88.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE GIS opened at $57.94 on Thursday. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $55.15 and a 52-week high of $75.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $31.94 billion, a PE ratio of 12.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.79 and a beta of 0.10.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.4 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.14%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 52.17%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate 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.