Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Sells 120,916 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lessened its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS - Free Report) by 67.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 59,071 shares of the company's stock after selling 120,916 shares during the period. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in General Mills were worth $3,767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 3,058,414 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,708,223 shares of the company's stock valued at $421,552,000 after buying an additional 2,926,232 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in General Mills by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,502,737 shares of the company's stock worth $2,474,177,000 after buying an additional 2,867,678 shares during the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. boosted its stake in General Mills by 3,504.8% in the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company's stock worth $138,023,000 after buying an additional 2,104,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the 4th quarter worth approximately $80,994,000. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company's stock.

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Insider Transactions at General Mills

In related news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 353,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at $22,967,490. This trade represents a 3.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup dropped their target price on General Mills from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Bank of America decreased their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $72.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.69.

General Mills Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of GIS traded up $1.26 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $59.05. The company had a trading volume of 5,204,060 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,116,492. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $32.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.93. General Mills, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.15 and a 52 week high of $75.90.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS - Get Free Report) last released 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. The business had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. General Mills's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.75%.

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.