Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Cuts Stake in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI cut its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 40,532 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,222 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GIS. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in General Mills by 1.1% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 31,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,895,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of General Mills by 6.6% during the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 48,873 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,922,000 after acquiring an additional 3,011 shares during the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 14.5% during the first quarter. Apella Capital LLC now owns 9,268 shares of the company’s stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,176 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 39.2% during the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the company’s stock worth $740,000 after acquiring an additional 3,267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HF Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of General Mills by 23.3% during the first quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 9,237 shares of the company’s stock worth $552,000 after acquiring an additional 1,746 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bernstein Bank dropped their target price on General Mills from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded General Mills from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (down from $53.00) on shares of General Mills in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on General Mills from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, HSBC decreased their price target 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $55.82.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of GIS stock opened at $50.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50 day moving average of $49.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.12. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.29 and a 52 week high of $73.78. The company has a market cap of $26.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.51, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of -0.03.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its 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 quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is 46.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total transaction of $200,160.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 66,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% 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.