Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Sells 675,543 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership cut its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 45.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 827,086 shares of the company’s stock after selling 675,543 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.15% of General Mills worth $52,743,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,376,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,868,508 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $497,054,000 after purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in General Mills during the fourth quarter worth approximately $496,484,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in General Mills by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,731,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,496,000 after buying an additional 670,642 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $59.70 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.91 billion, a PE ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $55.15 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.42.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen decreased their target price on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. 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 report on Wednesday, February 19th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of General Mills from $84.00 to $71.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.69.

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.