Welch Group LLC Sells 776,843 Shares of General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Welch Group LLC cut its stake in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 94.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 45,437 shares of the company’s stock after selling 776,843 shares during the quarter. Welch Group LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $2,113,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of General Mills in the second quarter valued at about $9,188,000. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in shares of General Mills by 4.1% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 65,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,374,000 after buying an additional 2,552 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in General Mills by 112.6% in the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 8,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $465,000 after buying an additional 4,752 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Mills by 4.9% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 82,037 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,250,000 after acquiring an additional 3,814 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC lifted its stake in General Mills by 334.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nebula Research & Development LLC now owns 19,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after acquiring an additional 15,041 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Up 2.4%

NYSE GIS opened at $35.32 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.04 and a 12 month high of $58.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.04 and a 200-day moving average of $44.86. The company has a market cap of $18.85 billion, a PE ratio of 8.63 and a beta of 0.01.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 18th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.09). General Mills had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 12.05%.The firm had revenue of $4.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. General Mills’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.9%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 59.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GIS has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $53.00 to $45.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Zacks Research cut shares of General Mills from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of General Mills from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of General Mills from $47.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of General Mills from $38.00 to $32.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $43.44.

General Mills Company Profile

General Mills, Inc (NYSE: GIS) is a multinational consumer foods company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of branded food products. Its product categories include ready-to-eat and hot cereals, baking mixes and ingredients, snacks and bars, refrigerated and frozen doughs, yogurt and other dairy products, and a variety of shelf-stable meals and meal components. The company’s portfolio features widely recognized consumer brands across grocery store, mass channel and foodservice outlets.

Founded in the early 20th century and incorporated under its current name in 1928, General Mills has grown through both internal brand development and strategic expansion to become a global food company.