Bank of Montreal Can Lowers Stock Holdings in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Bank of Montreal Can trimmed its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 15.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 847,804 shares of the company’s stock after selling 157,142 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can owned approximately 0.16% of General Mills worth $43,925,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GIS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 434.8% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,138,473,000 after buying an additional 15,480,835 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 1st quarter worth $279,570,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4,775.2% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 3,443,981 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,916,000 after buying an additional 3,373,338 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 1st quarter worth $92,717,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 178.1% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,520,449 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,908,000 after buying an additional 973,798 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on GIS shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price 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. Bernstein Bank cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.82.

General Mills Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE GIS opened at $46.40 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $51.32. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $45.80 and a 52 week high of $68.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market cap of $24.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.77, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of -0.04.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $4.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.52 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 15.24% and a return on equity of 23.46%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is 46.12%.

Insider Activity at General Mills

In other news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,332,313.72. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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.