Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in General Mills, Inc. $GIS

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC reduced its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 13.1% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,316 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,551 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in General Mills were worth $534,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Garde Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 101.5% in the second quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 524 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at $34,000. GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at $34,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Mills in the first quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Pingora Partners LLC grew its position in shares of General Mills by 416.7% in the first quarter. Pingora Partners LLC now owns 620 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Price Performance

NYSE:GIS opened at $48.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $49.65 and a 200 day moving average of $52.36. General Mills, Inc. has a 52-week low of $47.48 and a 52-week high of $70.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of -0.03.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 17th. The company reported $0.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.04. General Mills had a return on equity of 23.46% and a net margin of 15.24%.The firm had revenue of $4.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.52 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.0%. General Mills’s payout ratio is 46.12%.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Jacqueline Williams-Roll sold 4,000 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.04, for a total transaction of $200,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 66,593 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,332,313.72. The trade was a 5.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GIS shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded General Mills from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on General Mills from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Bank of America reduced their price target on General Mills from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on General Mills from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Bernstein Bank dropped their price objective on General Mills from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.82.

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.