Stiles Financial Services Inc Sells 1,529 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Stiles Financial Services Inc cut its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 13.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,731 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,529 shares during the quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in General Mills were worth $504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GIS. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 434.8% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,041,194 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,138,473,000 after acquiring an additional 15,480,835 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Mills by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 9,864,819 shares of the company’s stock worth $589,814,000 after purchasing an additional 741,432 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 7,161,951 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,213,000 after buying an additional 315,375 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,986,128 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,674,000 after buying an additional 634,393 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in General Mills by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,403,879 shares of the company’s stock valued at $382,888,000 after purchasing an additional 414,768 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GIS shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 13th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $54.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 15th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, HSBC decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $59.00 to $57.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $55.82.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 66,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,332,313.72. This represents a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Mills Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE:GIS opened at $49.20 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $49.77 and its 200-day moving average is $52.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $48.29 and a 52 week high of $72.55. The firm has a market cap of $26.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of -0.03.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.12%.

About General Mills

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.