Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 7,764 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Alliancebernstein L.P. cut its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 696,591 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,764 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned about 0.13% of General Mills worth $44,422,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 2.8% during 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. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,803,046 shares of the company's stock valued at $497,054,000 after acquiring an additional 3,058,414 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter valued at about $496,484,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,731,471 shares of the company's stock valued at $365,496,000 after acquiring an additional 670,642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company's stock valued at $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of General Mills 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 directly owns 353,346 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,967,490. The trade was a 3.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

General Mills Stock Performance

NYSE:GIS traded down $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $57.06. The company had a trading volume of 1,064,188 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,389,560. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.15 and a 52 week high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $31.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.39, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $59.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.67.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.04. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of General Mills from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.69.

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.