General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening Sells 46,500 Shares

General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening sold 46,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.61, for a total value of $3,190,365.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 355,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,379,054.08. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

General Mills Stock Performance

GIS traded down $0.02 on Friday, hitting $68.59. 380,669 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,881,670. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $72.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.19. General Mills, Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.47 and a twelve month high of $75.90. The firm has a market cap of $38.28 billion, a PE ratio of 15.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.71 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20.

General Mills (NYSE:GIS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 18th. The company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. General Mills had a net margin of 12.14% and a return on equity of 26.85%. The firm had revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.80 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.09 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that General Mills, Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, October 10th will be paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 10th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.50%. General Mills’s payout ratio is currently 55.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of General Mills in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on General Mills from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on General Mills from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho reduced their price target on General Mills from $70.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on General Mills from $76.00 to $72.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, General Mills presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.00.

Institutional Trading of General Mills

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in General Mills by 16.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,298,880 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,219,113,000 after buying an additional 8,444,312 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of General Mills by 22.3% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 13,650,388 shares of the company’s stock worth $955,118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,488,341 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in General Mills by 6.1% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock worth $356,151,000 after purchasing an additional 323,090 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in General Mills by 2.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,413,585 shares of the company’s stock worth $342,478,000 after purchasing an additional 148,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in General Mills by 7.4% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 5,362,663 shares of the company’s stock worth $376,459,000 after purchasing an additional 369,628 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

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.