Aviso Wealth Management Sells 5,035 Shares of General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS)

Aviso Wealth Management decreased its position in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 15.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 26,919 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,035 shares during the quarter. Aviso Wealth Management’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,717,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew 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 buying an additional 3,058,414 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake 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 worth $421,552,000 after acquiring an additional 2,926,232 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares in the last quarter. Nepsis Inc. lifted its position in General Mills by 3,504.8% during the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 2,164,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,023,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104,353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,630,598 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,376,573,000 after buying an additional 1,868,508 shares during the period. 75.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Mills news, CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 11,379 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total value of $739,635.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 353,346 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Mills Stock Performance

Shares of General Mills stock opened at $57.75 on Wednesday. General Mills, Inc. has a 12 month low of $55.15 and a 12 month high of $75.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.93. The firm has a market cap of $31.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.99 billion. General Mills had a net margin of 13.08% and a return on equity of 27.55%. General Mills’s revenue was down 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 10th. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 52.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GIS shares. Morgan Stanley began coverage on General Mills in a research note on Monday. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. 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 note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of General Mills from $60.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $64.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $65.69.

General Mills 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.