General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

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

Insider Transactions at General Mills

In other General Mills news, Director Maria Sastre sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.66, for a total value of $63,660.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,465,007.58. The trade was a 4.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Joseph Gallagher sold 1,041 shares of General Mills stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.50, for a total transaction of $67,144.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 42,117 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,716,546.50. The trade was a 2.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,321,170 over the last 90 days. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Mills

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position 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 valued at $2,474,177,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,678 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in General Mills by 64.5% in 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 last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of General Mills by 105.2% during the third 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. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of General Mills by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 5,629,943 shares of the company’s stock valued at $356,151,000 after acquiring an additional 323,090 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in General Mills by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,823,254 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,347,000 after purchasing an additional 263,188 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.71% of the company’s stock.

General Mills Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:GIS opened at $59.64 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $32.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.97, a P/E/G ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 0.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $63.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.49. General Mills has a 52 week low of $57.94 and a 52 week high of $75.90. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 18th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.18. General Mills had a return on equity of 27.55% and a net margin of 13.08%. The business had revenue of $5.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that General Mills will post 4.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Mills Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, January 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. General Mills’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.17%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GIS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. TD Cowen decreased their price target on General Mills from $75.00 to $64.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of General Mills from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of General Mills from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target on General Mills from $71.00 to $67.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on General Mills from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.31.

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.