General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Stake Lessened by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board trimmed its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 20.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,066,757 shares of the company's stock after selling 282,281 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned approximately 0.19% of General Mills worth $68,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Mills during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new stake in General Mills in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GIS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped 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 report on Wednesday, February 19th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Citigroup decreased their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America dropped their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a report on Monday, March 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.69.

General Mills Price Performance

Shares of GIS stock traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $57.70. 3,885,460 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,405,127. The company's 50 day moving average price is $59.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $62.69. The company has a market cap of $31.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.54, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.15. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92.

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

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Mills

In other news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,967,490. This represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.