Eastern Bank Sells 5,762 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Eastern Bank lowered its stake in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,055 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,762 shares during the period. Eastern Bank’s holdings in General Mills were worth $987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GIS. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 12.2% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 9,832 shares of the company’s stock valued at $588,000 after acquiring an additional 1,068 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 19,597 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,127 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter worth approximately $206,000. CX Institutional bought a new position in shares of General Mills in the 1st quarter worth approximately $216,000. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 26.6% in the 1st quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 11,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 2,339 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Up 0.3%

General Mills stock opened at $49.37 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $49.78 and a 200 day moving average of $52.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of -0.03. General Mills, Inc. has a 12-month low of $48.29 and a 12-month high of $72.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The company had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders 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 yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.12%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 66,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,332,313.72. This trade represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GIS shares. HSBC lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.82.

General Mills Company 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.