95,244 General Mills, Inc. $GIS Shares Sold by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 49.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 95,996 shares of the company’s stock after selling 95,244 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $3,087,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GIS. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in General Mills in the 2nd quarter worth $2,181,608,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in General Mills during the second quarter valued at about $129,298,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor bought a new stake in General Mills during the second quarter valued at about $126,097,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 2nd quarter worth about $121,707,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new stake in General Mills during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $105,889,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GIS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised General Mills from a “sell (d)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $30.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, September 24th. Barclays upped their price target on General Mills from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $35.00 price objective on General Mills in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of General Mills from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $36.59.

General Mills Stock Up 1.9%

NYSE GIS opened at $36.52 on Friday. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.17 and a twelve month high of $49.59. The stock has a market cap of $19.53 billion and a PE ratio of -22.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a current ratio of 0.70.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 23rd. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.35 billion. General Mills had a positive return on equity of 21.86% and a negative net margin of 4.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 13th were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 13th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -146.99%.

About General Mills

General Mills, Inc is a global food company that manufactures and markets branded consumer foods. Its portfolio includes cereal, snack foods, refrigerated and baking products, yogurt, soup, meals, and pet food. The company’s brands include Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Yoplait, Old El Paso, Progresso, Annie’s, Totino’s, Häagen-Dazs, and Blue Buffalo.

General Mills sells products through grocery stores, mass merchandisers, convenience stores, e-commerce channels, restaurants, and other foodservice outlets.