General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,470,000 shares, a decline of 5.5% from the December 15th total of 23,790,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,980,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.6 days. Approximately 4.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total value of $67,144.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,716,546.50. This trade represents a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at $24,379,054.08. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170. Company insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in General Mills in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of General Mills by 61.5% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 507 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Fairscale Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills in the second quarter worth about $42,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Mills during the 3rd quarter valued at about $44,000. 75.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Mills Stock Up 0.8 %

GIS opened at $59.64 on Friday. General Mills has a 12 month low of $57.94 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.76 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.14 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. General Mills’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that General Mills will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.17%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on GIS shares. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on General Mills from $83.00 to $82.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America upgraded General Mills from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $78.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of General Mills in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.31.

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.