General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Shares Sold by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. reduced its holdings in General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) by 3.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,805 shares of the company’s stock after selling 850 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in General Mills were worth $1,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 0.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,242,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,423,000 after acquiring an additional 23,400 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in General Mills by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 7,074,884 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,858,000 after purchasing an additional 501,717 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of General Mills during the 4th quarter valued at $377,205,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of General Mills by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,003,306 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,909,000 after buying an additional 235,938 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of General Mills by 106.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,442,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $224,254,000 after buying an additional 1,778,345 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, insider Werner Lanette Shaffer sold 710 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.57, for a total value of $50,104.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,227,706.29. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of General Mills in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of General Mills from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on General Mills from $70.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on General Mills from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.00.

General Mills Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of GIS stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Thursday, hitting $63.08. 2,521,769 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,734,770. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.68. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $60.33 and a twelve month high of $77.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.56 and a beta of 0.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.65.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.02. General Mills had a net margin of 12.57% and a return on equity of 26.56%. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 10th will be given a $0.60 dividend. This is a positive change from General Mills’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 10th. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.76%.

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 salty snacks, ice cream and frozen desserts, nutrition bars, and savory snacks, as well as various organic products, including frozen and shelf-stable vegetables.